Society makes strong case for prioritization of
Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals as a public health
threat.
Vytenis Andriukaitis, MD, the European Commissioner
for Health and Food Safety, hosted members of the
Endocrine Society who offered their scientific
expertise with comments and concerns regarding the
European Commission’s process to develop criteria to
identify endocrine disruptors. An
endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC) is a chemical or
mixture of chemicals in the environment that can
interfere with any aspect of hormone action.
Society members Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, MD, PhD,
Rémy Slama, PhD, and Leonardo Trasande, MD shared
highlights from the Endocrine Society’s new
Scientific Statement demonstrating that
Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals are an important
public health threat, and that governments need to
design regulations to protect vulnerable populations
from irreversible effects.
Furthermore, they emphasized the significant costs
of inaction, inadequate action, or improper
regulation of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals.
Recent studies have shown that health effects from
EDC exposure cost the EU more than €157 billion each
year.
The Society previously weighed in on the EU Roadmap
options for identifying EDCs, and the Society’s
representatives discussed science-based criteria for
the definition of EDCs and explained why potency
cutoffs are inconsistent with endocrine science and
are unsuitable for hazard characterization.
The Society supports the Roadmap option 3 which does
not include potency as a criterion and offers a
multi-level categorization based on level of
evidence.
The Society is deeply concerned about the impact
seen in patients’ lives that are increasingly linked
to exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals.
The Endocrine Society will continue to contribute
scientific expertise to the EU’s efforts to ensure
that the end result of EDC identification and
subsequent regulatory process will effectively
protect the public’s health.
For more information
Endocrine Society
Link...
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