What are Endocrine Disruptors (EDCs)
According to the European Commission on the Environment, Endocrine Disruptors are:
"Chemicals are an essential component of our daily lives. But some chemicals, known as endocrine disruptors, can have harmful effects on the body's endocrine (hormone) system. Hormones act in very small amounts and at precise moments in time to regulate the body's development, growth, reproduction, metabolism, immunity and behaviour. Endocrine disruptors interfere with natural hormone systems, and the health effects can be felt long after the exposure has stopped. Exposure to endocrine disruptors in the womb can have life-long effects and can even have consequences for the next generation."
There are some key thoughts in that description: small amounts and precise moments.
That's what creates problems when testing new molecules or chemicals as standard testing is based on toxicity levels, assuming that there are threshold levels where harm starts to occur. In some cases testing is only done to see if the chemical or molecule is cancer causing. Testing also does not look at long term affects. The endocrine system is very complicated. Criteria to test for toxicity does not take this issues into account.
This is an excellent article from a magazine called Molecular Endocrinology that explains the history of EDCs and the changes being made to account for their affects.
https://academic.oup.com/mend/article/30/8/833/2747295
Hey, in this document they talk about the accidental cancer in a petri dish! I didn't dream it after all!
"The multidisciplinary nature of endocrine disruptor research, which has been a core element of the field from its earliest inception, is at once its greatest asset and its greatest weakness. The field has benefitted enormously from serendipitous connections and synergies among disparate fields. Despite its focus on the impacts of chemicals on living systems, EDC research did not grow from toxicology as might have been expected but rather emerged at the intersections of many other fields in which researchers were noticing EDC effects. For example, in the late 1980s, while investigating the estrogen sensitivity of human breast cells in culture conditions, the Soto-Sonnenschein laboratory accidentally found that estrogenic activity leached out of plastic centrifuge tubes from the compound p-nonylphenol (35)."
Hey, in this document they talk about the accidental cancer in a petri dish! I didn't dream it after all!
"The multidisciplinary nature of endocrine disruptor research, which has been a core element of the field from its earliest inception, is at once its greatest asset and its greatest weakness. The field has benefitted enormously from serendipitous connections and synergies among disparate fields. Despite its focus on the impacts of chemicals on living systems, EDC research did not grow from toxicology as might have been expected but rather emerged at the intersections of many other fields in which researchers were noticing EDC effects. For example, in the late 1980s, while investigating the estrogen sensitivity of human breast cells in culture conditions, the Soto-Sonnenschein laboratory accidentally found that estrogenic activity leached out of plastic centrifuge tubes from the compound p-nonylphenol (35)."
Comments
Post a Comment