Broad trends in scientific findings about endocrine disruption

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http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/NewScience/broadtrends.htm

 

Broad trends in scientific findings about endocrine disruption

 

 

Broad trends in scientific findings about endocrine disruption

 

Endocrine disruption burst onto the public and policy scene in the mid-1990s,

propelled by a growing body of science and then galvanized by the publication of

Our Stolen Future. For a good history of this dynamic, read Sheldon Krimsky's

1999 book, Hormonal Chaos.

 

 

Since publication of Our Stolen Future, the emerging science has emphasized 6

broad trends:

 

 

 

Exposure is ubiquitous. All humans have been exposed, to varying amounts.

Some have more exposure. Some have less. But no one has no exposure. No baby has

been born for at least three decades without some exposure in the womb. Every

person has several hundred novel chemicals in their body, chemicals not part of

human body chemistry before the 20th century.

Laboratory experiments show that exposures have impacts at levels far lower

than had been considered possible in traditional toxicology. The exquisite

sensitivity of natural hormonal control to interference by endocrine disruptors

will force many changes in regulations, as the current system is inadequate.

Many more hormone systems, perhaps all chemically-mediated message systems,

are now known to be vulnerable to endocrine disruptors. The study of endocrine

disruption began with a focus on compounds capable of mimicking or interfering

with estrogen. Now science has revealed disruptors for almost every hormone

system that has been studied. This includes other sex steroid hormones, like

testosterone and progesterone, as well as thyroid and retinoids.

Many more compounds are now known to be powerful endocrine disruptors. This

includes contemporary use pesticides and a range of chemicals in widespread use

in consumer products. The biggest surprise (except, perhaps, to the polymer

chemists who invented them) is that certain plastics show endocrine-disrupting

effects.

Human health effects of concern now include adult impacts of fetal exposure.

This means, for example, that studies attempting to prove an association between

adult levels of exposure and adult risk to disease or dysfunction do not test

the most important potential links between endocrine disruptors and human

health. We need studies of developmental exposure (especially fetal) in relation

to risk, examined for all relevant life stages. For example, one of the greatest

gaps in breast cancer research is that while many studies examine adult exposure

and adult risk, none examine fetal or pubertal exposure and adult risk.

Human epidemiology is biased toward false negatives in the search for health

effects of endocrine disruption. It will be exceedingly difficult, if not

impossible, to establish scientific certainty of causation of many health

problems in human, even though based on laboratory data it is likely that

endocrine disruption is involved in a range of human diseases. Because the

animal data demonstrate plausible, serious risks to human healths, this bias

toward false negatives (a statistical term that means finding no association

when in fact there is one) requires the application of the precautionary

principle, using animal data as the guide.

 

 

 

 

 

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