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PANUPS: Endocrine Disruptors
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P A N U P S
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Pesticide Action Network
North America
Updates Service
http://www.panna.org/panna/
EMAIL: panna@panna.org
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June 16, 1997
U.S. Assesses Endocrine Disruptors
According to a recent report by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), assessing the effects of endocrine
disruptors on humans is difficult due to limited data, but
the potential risks, especially to children, warrant further
research. EPA prepared the report as an interim assessment of
potential health and environmental impacts of endocrine
disrupting chemicals, pending release of a more extensive
report later in 1997 by the National Academy of Sciences
(NAS). This interim report will be used to assist the Agency
in making regulatory decisions and setting research
priorities regarding endocrine disruptors -- chemicals,
including some pesticides, that interfere with the hormonal
or endocrine systems of humans and animals.
The interim report examined nearly 300 peer-reviewed studies
on the relationship of chemicals to the endocrine systems of
humans, laboratory animals and wildlife. It investigated
whether there is evidence that endocrine disruptors play a
part in human health effects, including ovary and
reproductive tract impacts, endometriosis and breast cancer
in women; reproductive system harm, testicular cancer and
prostate cancer in men; and hypothalamus, pituitary and
thyroid impacts in both sexes.
With very few exceptions (for example, the pharmaceutical
DES), the report found no causal relationship between
endocrine disruption and human health impacts. However, it
emphasized that there are large data gaps and that, in
theory, many of the human effects that have been hypothesized
could indeed be the result of endocrine disrupting chemicals.
In addition, the report stated that documentation of problems
related to endocrine disruption in wildlife species
strengthens the hypothesis that humans may be vulnerable to
the same effects. "The studies we reviewed demonstrate that
exposure to certain endocrine disrupting chemicals can lead
to disturbing health effects in animals, including cancer,
sterility and developmental problems, among others," said Dr.
Robert Huggett, EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of
Research and Development. Endocrine disruption has been
reported in many species of wildlife, including snails, fish,
alligators, gulls, eagles, panthers, seals and dolphins.
In related news, the Endocrine Disruptors Screening and
Testing Advisory Committee (EDSTAC) held its most recent
meeting in Baltimore, Maryland from April 29-30, 1997. This
was the third meeting of EDSTAC, a committee established by
EPA to develop guidelines for screening chemicals for their
endocrine disrupting potential. The committee is comprised of
approximately ten representatives from industry, ten from
government, ten from academic institutions and ten from
nonprofit public interest organizations.
According to Davis Baltz, a Research Associate at Commonweal
who has been attending the EDSTAC meetings and monitoring its
progress, some public interest representatives were
frustrated by several developments in Baltimore, including
the working definition of "endocrine disruptor" that emerged.
This definition states that an endocrine disruptor is "an
exogenous substance that changes endocrine function and
causes adverse effects at the level of organism, its progeny,
and/or (sub)populations of organisms." Some representatives
of public interest organizations decried the use of "adverse
effects" in the language. They asked, what should be done
about a chemical for which there is evidence of binding to
hormone receptors, but (as yet) no observed effects? Despite
observed interference in endocrine function, such a chemical
would not be considered an endocrine disruptor according to
the current working definition.
Public interest members were also disappointed to learn that
EPA will use a risk assessment framework which will likely
establish thresholds for endocrine disruptors despite
criticism that risk assessment is inadequate for identifying
and managing the threats of these substances. In addition,
public interest representatives were dismayed that the
committee chose not to stress the precautionary principle in
its latest draft of the Conceptual Framework, a set of
guidelines that specify if and how a particular chemical
undergoes scrutiny.
EDSTAC's next meeting will be July 15-16, 1997 in Chicago.
Smaller work groups of the committee will meet before then.
Sources: Special Report on Environmental Endocrine
Disruption: An Effects Assessment and Analysis, EPA Risk
Assessment Forum, February 1997 (EPA/630/R-96/012); EPA Press
Release, March 13, 1997; Email report from Davis Baltz, May
13, 1997.
Contact: PANNA
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