The World Health Organization (WHO) and the the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released this update on the current (2012) understanding of how trace levels of certain bioactive chemicals– Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) – can affect sensitive populations, i.e., the young, wildlife, etc. and their developmental health.
More on the issues of concern can be found in the full report at WHO.
A shorter summary, concerning the issues (see below), and titled “The Impact of Endocrine Disruption: A Consensus Statement on the State of the Science”can be found at Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP).
Close to 800 chemicals are known or suspected to be capable of interfering with hormone receptors, hormone synthesis or hormone conversion.
However, only a small fraction of these chemicals have been investigated in tests capable of identifying overt endocrine effects in intact organisms.
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UN, WHO panel calls hormone-disrupting chemicals a ‘global threat’
An international team of experts reported that evidence linking hormone-mimicking chemicals to human health problems has grown stronger over the past decade, becoming a “global threat” that should be addressed.
Much has changed since 2002, when the organizations released a report that called the evidence “weak.” The current panel of 16 scientists from 10 nations find that endocrine-related diseases and disorders are on the rise.
The report summary suggests that there is now evidence for adverse reproductive outcomes, adverse effects on thyroid and brain tissues, and on metabolism.
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