Overview of endocrine disruptor research activity in the United States

The issue of whether environmental contaminants are inducing adverse health effects in humans and wildlife via interaction with endocrine systems has gained increasing interest during the 1990s. Endocrine disruption is one of the highest priority research topics for the US EPA, and a detailed research strategy has been developed to guide the placement of resources over the next several years. To address the deficiency of testing guidelines in detecting and characterizing damage mediated by interaction with the endocrine system, EPA has issued new multi generation testing guidelines. The new endpoints for monitoring pubertal development, semen quality, and estrous cyclicity will better enable determination of the affected sex, target organ, and life stage following exposure throughout the life cycle. Another major area of effort within EPA is the development of an endocrine disruptor screening program in response to passage of the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996. The current status of these efforts is described. On the federal level, endocrine disruption is one of the five priority research areas for the Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources (CENR) within the Executive Office of President. The CENR has developed a framework to assess research needs for endocrine disruptors, inventoried existing efforts of the federal government (nearly 400 projects were identified as active in FY96), and prioritized additional research needs based upon the needs and gaps in current efforts. It is clear that a great deal of research is underway to clarify the validity of the endocrine disruptor hypothesis and to determine the breadth of chemicals that pose a risk to the endocrine system. The degree of forward research planning and coordination across many organizations should ensure that sufficient data will be available within the next few years to allow a rigorous weight of evidence evaluation that is needed to bring together diverse types of information to make informed decisions regarding risks to humans and wildlife.