EU Vote to Reject Flawed EDC Criteria Creates Opportunity to Protect Public Health

Newswise — WASHINGTON—The Endocrine Society, the world’s largest organization of endocrinologists, welcomed the European Parliament vote Wednesday objecting to proposed criteria that would have failed to identify endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) currently causing harm to public health.

In the months leading up to the vote, the Society, whose members are scientists and physicians who specialize in researching and treating hormone health conditions, repeatedly expressed concerns the rejected criteria would not ensure a high level of health and environmental protection.

An EDC is a chemical or mixture of chemicals that can cause adverse health effects by interfering with hormones in the body. EDCs contribute to serious health problems such as diabetes, obesity, and neurodevelopmental and reproductive disorders. Scientific criteria to effectively identify and regulate EDCs are critical to ensure the health and wellbeing of the public for this and future generations.

There are more than 85,000 manufactured chemicals, of which thousands may be EDCs. EDCs are found in everyday products and throughout the environment.

The rejected criteria failed to support the latest scientific evidence. The proposal contained arbitrary exemptions for chemicals specifically designed to disrupt target insect endocrine systems that have similarities in humans and wildlife. The Endocrine Society, the European Society for Endocrinology, and the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology previously released a statement strongly objecting to the addition of loopholes in the criteria as they create frameworks where potentially dangerous chemicals cannot be defined as EDCs by law.

New, science-based criteria need to be developed to maximize the ability to identify chemicals that pose a threat to human health. It will be critical for scientists with expertise in hormone biology and endocrine systems to be deeply involved in the processes to identify EDCs. The Endocrine Society’s experts are prepared to play a role providing scientific guidance on the development of effective criteria for identifying EDCs.

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Endocrinologists are at the core of solving the most pressing health problems of our time, from diabetes and obesity to infertility, bone health, and hormone-related cancers. The Endocrine Society is the world’s oldest and largest organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions.

The Society has more than 18,000 members, including scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in 122 countries. To learn more about the Society and the field of endocrinology, visit our site at www.endocrine.org. Follow us on Twitter at @TheEndoSociety and @EndoMedia.