Endocrine Disrupters and Drinking Water

Summary

This paper addresses the issue of endocrine disrupters and their relevance to the quality of water intended for human consumption. The newly adopted Council Directive on the Quality of Water Intended for Human Consumption, the Drinking Water Directive (DWD) is discussed with respect to endocrine disrupting substances. The opinion of the Scientific Committee on Toxicity, Ecotoxicity and the Environment (SCTEE) as well as the Commission’ s draft Strategy paper on endocrine disrupters is presented. It is concluded that at the moment there is insufficient knowledge about the occurrence of endocrine disrupters in drinking water. Therefore the Commission’s Services intend to carry out a study into these substances. The scope and objectives of this study are to assess the exposure of human beings (in Member States) to endocrine disrupting chemicals through drinking water and to develop a definition of and test methods for such substances (which could be added to a revised DWD if necessary).