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Evidence suggests that environmental exposure to some anthropogenic chemicals may result in disruption of endocrine systems in human and wildlife populations. A number of the classes of chemicals suspected of causing endocrine disruption fall within the purview of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) mandates to protect both public health and the environment. Although there is a wealth of information regarding endocrine disruptors, many critical scientific uncertainties still remain.
In 1996, EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) identified endocrine disruption as one of its top six research priorities and developed a risk-based research approach to address some of these uncertainties. ORD’s research program is based on a peer-reviewed Research Plan published in 1998 (www.epa.gov/ORD/WebPubs/final) and has three long-term goals:
- Providing a better understanding of the science underlying the effects, exposure, assessment, and risk management of endocrine disruptors. Research in this area includes determining dose-response relationships, the effects of exposure to multiple endocrine disruptors, major sources of exposure, and approaches for managing risks.
- Determining the extent of the impact of endocrine disruptors on humans, wildlife, and the environment.
Research includes determining: what effects are occurring in human and wildlife populations, the chemical
classes of greatest concern, the ambient levels of exposure, and how unreasonable risks can be mitigated.
- Supporting EPA’s screening and testing program. ORD is developing needed computational tools as well as
in vitro and in vivo assays in support of the implementation of a screening and testing program for endocrine
disruptors, required by the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act.
ORD’s research program is conducted intramurally across three national laboratories—National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, National Exposure Research Laboratory, and National Risk Management Research Laboratory—and through one of its two national centers, the National Center for Environmental Assessment. ORD’s research program is carried out extramurally through its other national center, the National Center for Environmental Research, which is responsible for implementing the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) competitive grants program. EPA’s intramural research related to endocrine disruptors has been ongoing for several decades, and was integrated into a coordinated research program in the mid-1990s. Since 1996, EPA has issued four Requests for Applications in the area of endocrine disruptors, two of which have been with other federal agencies and with whom EPA collaborates under the auspices of a Working Group with the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources of the President’s National Science and Technology Council. This Program Review Workshop brings together EPA’s intramural and extramural scientists as well as scientists funded by other federal agencies who are working to address the uncertainties associated with exposure and effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment. EPA uses Program Reviews such as this one to allow EPA and other federal and non-federal scientists to discuss research progress on topics of major scientific interest to the Agency. The research reported here is of critical importance to EPA, as it has the potential to strengthen the scientific basis for both assessing the risk from exposure to endocrine disruptors and developing appropriate risk-management practices to mitigate their effects.
For further information on EPA’s Endocrine Disruptors Research Program, please contact the National Program Director for EPA’s Endocrine Disruptors Research Program, Elaine Z. Francis, Ph.D., by telephone at (202) 564-6789, or by e-mail at francis.elaine@epa.gov.
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