Receipt paper, hard plastic bottles, food can liners, baby bottles, plastic bags, drugs, many cosmetics...what do they have in common? These and other products contain compounds linked by hundreds of research studies to endocrine and reproductive system disruption. Last week, the Endocrine Society issued its first-ever statement confirming concerns about EDCs, or endocrine disruption chemicals (BPA or bisphenol A, phlatates and DDT, etc.) is evidence-based.
The concerns aren’t new. More than 15 years ago at the first World Wildlife Fund Wingspread Conference, expert scientists concluded “Many compounds introduced into the environment by human activity are capable of disrupting the endocrine system of animals, including fish, wildlife, and humans.” EDCs affect the hormones that control physical development.
And a decade ago, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) was given a mandate to develop test protocols to screen for endocrine effects of chemicals.
Since then, hundreds of peer-reviewed studies have shown associations between EDC exposure and adverse impact in humans. During the same period, new manmade chemicals have been added to the synthetic scene, and scientists have expressed concern about EDCs’ potential role in the increasing occurrence of behavioral disorders, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
Possible impacts on animals include early breast development in young women, breast and prostate cancer in humans, bird deaths, sex reversal and infertilify in fish, birth defects in amphibians, and high levels of anthropogenic (man-made) chemicals in polar bears, beluga whales, killer whales and Arctic foxes.
