Assessment of Endocrine Toxicity

Another section of the EPA, the Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances (OPPT), has recently updated and harmonized its testing guidelines for evaluating the developmental and reproductive effects of pesticides and industrial chemicals to include an assessment of endocrine disrupting properties. These guidelines will be used in future testing of pesticides under both the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). 

Harris ML, van den Heuvel MR, Rouse J, Martin PA, Struger J, Bishop CA, Takacs P (2000) Pesticides in Ontario a critical assessment of potential toxicity of agricultural products to wildlife with consideration for endocrine disruption, vol 1. Canadian... 

With respect to reproductive toxicology, concerns over endocrine-disrupting chemicals have become an intensive theme of research on both human and wildlife health (Colborn et al. 1996). For the assessment and testing of estrogens and other endocrine disrupters in aquatic life, see the work of Vos et al. (2000), Hutchinson et al. (2000), and Matthiessen (2003). Importantly, however, assessment of reproductive toxicity may also involve a genetic aspect in terms of the teratogens, con-... 

The sustainable management of sediments, in addition to water, soil and sludge environmental matrices, in relation to surfactant regulations, is also an important and relevant issue. The US EPA has recently shown concern regarding the levels of surfactants in sediments and has thus released a Draft Contaminated Sediment Science Plan. In this draft, recommendations for the development of analytical methods and evaluations of the toxicity and risk assessment of Emerging endocrine disrupters like APEOs and their metabolites in sediment samples are outlined. 

Secondary to the societal concerns around chemical-related endocrine disruption, the OECD407 subacute 28-day toxicity study protocol has been updated in 2007 with parameters relating to endocrine homeostasis. Specifically, circulating thyroid hormones and detailed assessment of reproductive organ parameters were added to the protocol. Reproductive hormones were suggested as additional parameters but they were deemed not informative in view of their large variability in untreated animals. 

Chapter 5 illustrates a site-specific impact assessment of TBT originating from antifouling paint and present in marine as well as harbour sediments. TBT is an endocrine-disrupting chemical and extremely toxic to marine life such as gastropod species where it causes intersex and population decline. 

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