Potential Endocrine Disruptors In the Workplace

Abstract In recent years, increasing attention has focused on the possibility that some chemicals present in the general environment may disrupt endocrine function in humans and lead to serious health consequences. These chemicals have been labeled environmental endocrine disruptors . The science underlying this area of concern is rapidly evolving, and enormous gaps in our understanding remain to be addressed. While there is general agreement in the scientific community that the implications of such endocrine disruption could be far‐reaching and profound, there is considerable controversy regarding the plausibility of the hypothesis and extent of the actual problem. The goal of this chapter is to highlight some of the major findings to date in the field of environmental endocrine disruption that may be of interest to industrial hygienists and toxicologists. A number of reviews and consensus workshops regarding this topic have been conducted, including a comprehensive assessment of the evidence recently completed by the National Academy of Sciences. In addition, an encyclopedic description of the major chemicals suspected to have endocrine‐disrupting activity, their chemical properties, regulatory status, and summary of endocrine‐related findings has been recently published This overview is limited to chemicals occurring in the environment; agents used therapeutically will not be covered, other than brief mention of diethylstilbestrol because of its historical importance. Phytoestrogens, estrogenic compounds naturally present in certain plants such as soybeans, are also beyond the scope of this chapter. Much of the literature on this topic has focused on exposures to the general population occurring through the food chain, such as DDT and its degradation products and polyhalogenated biphenyls. These chemicals were banned in the United States and many other countries in the 1970s but because of their persistence and bioaccumulation in the food chain, exposures through food continue to be of concern. While current exposure to these chemicals in occupational settings should generally be minimal or declining, evidence from these reports may be useful in ( 1 ) determining whether endocrine disruption by environmental agents is occurring, and ( 2 ) predicting activity of structurally similar chemicals still present in workplaces. Thus, while this chapter is intended to be useful to industrial hygienists and toxicologists dealing with occupational exposures, the evidence from nonoccupational exposures is also described. A recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency–sponsored workshop on research needs for the risk assessment of health and environmental effects of endocrine disruptors defined the term environmental endocrine disruptor to be “any exogenous agent that interferes with the production, release, transport, metabolism, binding, action, or elimination of natural hormones in the body responsible for the maintenance of homeostasis and the regulation of developmental processes”. This definition will apply for the purposes of this review.