Nancy J. Schmitt
A growing body of scientific research indicates that many man-made industrial chemicals and pesticides may interfere with the normal functioning of human and wildlife endocrine systems. These endocrine, or hormone, disrupters may cause a variety of problems with development, behavior, and reproduction.
Disruption of the endrocrine system can occur in various ways. For example, some
chemicals may mimic a natural hormone, "fooling" the body into over-responding to the stimulus or responding at inappropriate times. Other chemicals may block the effects of a hormone in parts of the body normally sensitive to it. Still others may directly stimulate or inhibit the endocrine system, causing overproduction or underproduction of hormones. Certain drugs, such as birth control pills, are used to cause some of these effects intentionally.
While toxicological testing is done on many of the pesticides we use, as well as on some of the industrial chemicals, there is very little understanding of the effect these pesticides and chemicals have as endocrine disrupters after they have reached the water supply or even what the appropriate tests would be to determine the risks. Because it has become generally accepted that some testing is, indeed, appropriate, the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Food Quality Protection Act mandate that a program to test the water be developed by the EPA under the authority they have been granted under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), and Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
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EPA's Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances proposes to establish the Endocrine Disruptor Screening and Testing Advisory Committee (EDSTAC). The purpose of EDSTAC will be to provide advice and counsel to the Agency on a strategy to screen and test chemicals and pesticides that may be the cause of endocrine disruption in humans, fish, and wildlife. This strategy will be aimed at reducing or mitigating risk to human health and the environment. EDSTAC will use a consensus building approach to reach their findings and recommendations.
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Possible effects of endocrine disruptors have been observed on both animals and humans. The effects include behavioral, such as mating habits, physical, such as malformed genitalia and sterility. Lower sperm counts in humans over the last half century may also be attributed to endocrine disruptors, though there is still some question as to the specific cause. We still have a limited understanding about which specific chemicals interfere with the functions of the endocrine system.
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