Endocrine Disruptors EDs

As an example of suspected endocrine disruptors (EDs), studies of the estrogenic action of bisphenol A (BPA) have been in progress in medical, physiological, and biological fields. In this situation, physicochemical approaches are required to get the structural information of BPA trapped in biomembranes. Most recently, we have determined the site and the orientation of BPA trapped in phospholipid vesicles by NMR, using the HCS rule [47]. In particular, we have succeeded in monitoring the NMR spectral changes of phospholipid vesicles, which are induced by the BPA delivery. 

Contamination of the environment and agricultural products with endocrine disruptors(EDs) including dioxins, industrial chemicals and certain pesticide residues is a serious problem. These chemicals were found in the environment and agricultural products at nano-level concentrations, and are suspected of affecting ecosystems and human health. The Ministry of the Environment of Japan surveyed contamination of EDs in rivers, showing that bisphenol A, 176-estradiol and nonylphenol were detected in 50.3%, 40.4% and 31.0% of the water samples, respectively(Table 1). 

R. B. Thomas and T. Colborn, Organochlorine Endocrine Disruptors in Human Tissue, in Chemically Induced Alterations in Sexual Development The Wildlife/Human Connection, T. Colborn and C. Clement., eds. (Princeton,... 

Damstra T., Barlow, S., Bergman, A., Kavlock, R. and Van Der Kraak, G. (2002) (eds.), ICPS Global Assessment of the State-of-the-Science of Endocrine Disruptors, WHO/PCS/EDC/02.2, International Programme on Chemical Safety, World Health Organization, Geneva. 

Perkins, R., Anson, J., Blair, R., Branham, W.S., Dial, S., Fang, H., Hass, B.S., Moland, C., Shi, L., Tong, W., Welsh, W., Walker, J.D., and Sheehan, D.M., The endocrine disruptor knowledge base (EDKB), a prototype toxicological knowledge base for endocrine disrupting chemicals, in Handbook on Quantitative Structure Activity Relationships (QSARs) for Predicting Chemical Endocrine Disruption Potentials, Walker, J.D., Ed., SETAC Press, Pensacola, FL, 2003 (in press). 

Soto, A.M., Michaelson, C., Prechtl, N., Weill, B., and Sonnenschein, C., In vitro endocrine disruptor screening, in Environmental Toxicology and Assessment, Henshel, D., Ed., American Society for Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, PA, 1999. 

Safe, S. (2005). 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and related environmental antiandrogens characterization and mechanism of action. In Endocrine Disruptors Effects on Male and Female Reproductive Systems, 2nd edition (R.K. Naz, ed.), pp. 249-87. CRC Press/Taylor Francis Group, LLC, Boca Raton. 

Accepting this statement and sensational reports by the mass media, the Japan Environmental Protection Agency (JEPA) published Strategic Programs on Environmental Endocrine Disruptors in 1998 (SPEED 98) , presented JEPA s basic policy on this subject, initiated concrete countermeasures and listed about 70 substances, including SDs and STs, that are suspected of being endocrine disrupters (EDs) in a review of the literature [3]. Thereafter, researchers affiliated with the National Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) investigated certain kinds of containers made of PS, and it was clarified that... 

Harris, C. A. and Sumpter, J. P., The endocrine disrupting potential of phthalates. In The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, Part L, Endocrine Disruptors, Part /, Vol. 3, Metzler, M., Ed., Springer-Verlag, Berhn, pp. 169-201, 2001. 

McNeal TP, Biles JE, Begley TH et al (2000) Determination of suspected endocrine disruptors in foods and food packaging. In Keith LH, Jones-Lepp TL, Needham LL (eds) Analysis of environmental endocrine disruptors, vol 747., ACS symposium series. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, pp 33-52... 

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