Today members and staff of the Endocrine Society are attending the 4th International Conference on Chemical Management (ICCM4) in Geneva, Switzerland, where 800 attendees from around the world representing governments, NGOs, and industry to discuss chemical management policy. An emerging policy issue that has been identified is environmentally persistent pharmaceutical pollutants (EPPPs), which can include EDCs. Jean Pierre Bourguignon, MD, co-chair of the ES EU and Global EDC Policy Task Forces, just delivered an intervention in support of a resolution on EPPPs before the conference on behalf of the Endocrine Society:
The Endocrine Society is the world’s largest and oldest professional society dedicated to the understanding of hormone systems and clinical care of those with endocrine diseases and disorders. Our international membership includes physicians and scientists from over 120 countries across the globe.
Certain pharmaceutical chemicals either are designed to interfere with the endocrine system of an organism or its progeny, or may interfere incidentally and therefore may act as endocrine disrupting chemicals in humans, in wildlife, or in production species. Therefore, SAICM actions to address EPPPs that may also be EDCs should reflect endocrine principles, for instance:
- A single hormone, or in this context a chemical, will have changing effects during development and with different sensitivity. Therefore, sensitive endpoints must be prioritized to study effects of EPPPs.
- Hormones act at very low concentrations so the effects of very small amounts of EPPPs need to be taken into account systematically.
- Chemical interference with hormone actions during early development can have delayed and long-lasting consequences that justify long term and transgenerational studies of EPPP effects.
- EPPPs can act synergistically with EDCs from other sources, including non-persistent chemicals. It is therefore important to address cumulative and mixture effects.
During OEWG2, the Society recommended several specific activities to address EDC exposures; we believe that several of these activities are also appropriate for EPPPs, for instance:
- Awareness-raising involving health care and medical professionals and including outreach to vulnerable groups
- Monitoring studies of EDCs should include monitoring of EPPPs in countries selected in the four UN regions
- Ensure that endocrine scientists, including experts in comparative endocrinology, are included in efforts to address EPPP effects in humans and wildlife.
Thank you, Mr. President, for considering our intervention.
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