1UNCERTAINTIES FOR ENDOCRINE DISRUPTERS: OUR VIEW ON PROGRESS TOWARDS ADDRESSING THEM

The hypothesis that hormonally active compounds in the environment – endocrine disrupters – are having a significant impact on human and ecological health, has captured the public’s attention like no other toxicity concern since the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962). In the early 1990s, Theo Colborn and others began to synthesize information about the potential impacts of endocrine-mediated toxicity in the scientific literature (Colborn and Clement, 1992) and the popular press (Colborn et al., 1997). Recognizing the possibility of an emerging health threat, the USEPA convened two international workshops in 1995 (Kavlock et al., 1996, Ankley et al., 1997) that identified research needs relative to future risk assessments for endocrine disrupting chemicals. These workshops identified effects on reproductive, neurological and immunological function, and carcinogenesis as the major endpoints of concern and made a number of recommendations for research. Subsequently, the USEPA developed a research strategy to begin addressing the recommendations (USEPA, 1998a) and the federal government as a whole, working through the White House’s Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources, increased funding levels and coordinated researc