Regulating Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Could Improve the Health of the Next Generation
▻http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/36899-new-challenges-for-the-evaluation-of-endocrine-disrupting-chemicals
Despite $100 million in funding, only 52 chemicals have been screened, and none have yet been declared to be an endocrine disruptor. This may seem like good news — no endocrine disruptors found! — but, according to scientific experts in the Endocrine Society, the world’s leading researchers on hormones, it is more likely an indication that the program’s methods are insufficient for this kind of evaluation.
Even worse is the pace of the EPA’s screening program. With more than 1,000 putative endocrine disruptors already identified by the US Food and Drug Administration and the non-profit group The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, at this rate it will take more than 300 years just to screen the compounds that have already raised some concern.
The situation isn’t much better in the EU. The European Commission has proposed new criteria to identify and classify endocrine disrupting chemicals.
Unfortunately, the proposal has a number of flaws that we and others have outlined in an open letter and other correspondence to the EU Directorate General for Health and Food Safety.
At this rate it will take more than 300 years just to screen the compounds that have already raised some concern.Two major concerns are: 1) The burden of proof for defining a compound as an endocrine disruptor is too high; compounds that are widely acknowledged to be endocrine disruptors like bisphenol A (BPA) would not be classified as such using the proposed EU approach. 2) The methods for identifying, evaluating, and integrating scientific evidence are biased and will further result in non-transparent (and likely inconclusive) assessments.
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