Hecker and Hollert Environmental Sciences Europe 2011, 23:15 DISCUSSION Open Access Endocrine disruptor screening: regulatory perspectives and needs Markus Hecker1* and Henner Hollert2* Abstract National and international governments are in the process of establishing testing programs and strategies to assess the safety of currently used chemicals with regard to their potential to interact with the endocrine system of man and wildlife, resulting in potential impacts on reproduction, growth, and/or development. Specifically, the USA, Japan, EU, and OECD have established testing approaches and regulatory frameworks with aim to assess the risks associated with chemicals that have endocrine disrupting properties (EDCs). While there has been a. | Hecker and Hollert Environmental Sciences Europe 2011 23 15 http content 23 1 15 o Environmental Sciences Europe a SpringerOpen Journal DISCUSSION Open Access Endocrine disruptor screening regulatory perspectives and needs Markus Hecker1 and Henner Hollert2 Abstract National and international governments are in the process of establishing testing programs and strategies to assess the safety of currently used chemicals with regard to their potential to interact with the endocrine system of man and wildlife resulting in potential impacts on reproduction growth and or development. Specifically the USA Japan EU and OECD have established testing approaches and regulatory frameworks with aim to assess the risks associated with chemicals that have endocrine disrupting properties EDCs . While there has been a large amount of efforts over the past two decades in context with the assessment of chemical safety no comparable attempts to harmonize and mutually accept testing strategies and decision-making criteria for environmental monitoring and assessment exist to date for EDCs. In fact many of the current environmental programs such as the European Water Framework Directive WFD or the US Clean Water Act do not explicitly test for EDCs and considering the unique requirements and endpoints required to assess the endocrine potential of a sample these programs are unlikely to appropriately address exposure to these chemicals. This is of great concern since EDCs are ubiquitous in the environment especially in aquatic ecosystems. One of most important sources for EDCs in the environment is the effluent from sewage treatment plants. Many EDCs such as the natural and synthetic estrogens 17p-estradiol and 17a-ethinylestradiol respectively are not completely removed with conventional wastewater treatment systems. In recognition of these concerns in Europe there is increasing pressure to further develop advanced wastewater treatment methods such as ozonation and .
