Endocrine Disruption and Wildlife

Endocrine disruption has been postulated as the cause of a large number of adverse affects on the health of various species of animals in the wild. The majority of cases involve reproductive abnormalities that might be linked to population declines. Data supporting causative associations between the biological 

The impact of chemical pollution on the reproductive success and population sizes of wildlife species is often difficult to assess. In many cases, environmental factors such as habitat restriction, stress due to human intrusion and changes in natural food supplies owing to hunting, fishing and restocking policies may have a significant, even predominant, effect on population size. This makes it difficult to determine to what extent, if any, environmental endocrine disrupters may be contributing to observed effects on reproduction or population size in wildlife species. 

Effects on wildlife are important in their own right, but are also of significance to human health concerns because of the information that may be conveyed regarding possible parallel changes in humans. The adverse effects that have been identified and the compounds that have been implicated, with at least some degree of certainty, are summarized below. 

De Guise, D. Martineau, P. Beland and M. Fournier, Environ. Health Perspect., 1995, 103, 73. 

Walker, S. P. Flopkin, R. M. Sibly and D. B. Peakall, Principles of Ecotoxicology, Taylor  

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