Assessment of the Impact of Endocrine Disrupters on Human Health and Wildlife: Activities of the World Health Organisation

Summary

Numerous scientific publications have contributed to the concern that environmental pollutants, considered to be endocrine disrupters, are a threat for human health and for wildlife species. In the last decade, many national and international agencies and organisations have addressed this issue in an attempt to identify the major threats or potential threats, and to provide regulatory authorities with a sound basis for risk management decisions. In 1996, the first European Workshop on the Impact of Endocrine Disrupters on Human Health and Wildlife was organised by the European Centre for Environment and Health of the World Health Organisation together with the European Commission, and the European Environment Agency. The aim of the workshop was to assess the scope of the problem in Europe and to provide guidance for policy making, regulatory measures, and the development of a research strategy. In 1997, the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety underlined the need to address the issue of endocrine disrupters on a broad international level, to co-ordinate testing and assessment strategies, and to develop an international inventory of research activities. The World Health Organisation has responded to these recommendations and the International Programme on Chemical Safety has taken the lead on the global endocrine disrupter research inventory (GEDRI) and the global assessment of the state-of-the-science on endocrine disrupters (GAED). The global research inventory was built on existing inventories of US EPA, the Canadian EPA and the European Union. The development of the global assessment document, informing us on what we know and what we do not know about the effects of endocrine disrupters, has reached its final stage. Publication of the peer-reviewed document is expected by the end of 2001. Information on both activities can be found on the web (http://endocrine.ei.jrc.it/).