Synthetic chemicals known as endocrine disruptors are an excellent example of emerging contaminants where the threats and consequences for water quality, human health, and the environment are still not fully understood. Endocrine disruptors – chemicals that can interfere with hormone action – have been identified among chemicals used in agriculture, industry, and households, and for personal care, including pesticides, disinfectants, plastic additives, and pharmaceuticals like birth control pills. Many of these endocrine-disruptors mimic or block other hormones in the body, disrupting the development of the endocrine system and the organs that respond to endocrine signals in organisms indirectly exposed during.
