Introduction to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals

II. WHAT ARE EDCs, HOW ARE THEY USED, AND WHERE ARE
THEY FOUND
EDCs were recently defined by the Endocrine Society (endocrine.org), the largest
international group of scientists and physicians working and practicing in the
field of endocrinology, as: “an exogenous [non-natural] chemical, or mixture of
chemicals, that interferes with any aspect of hormone action” (5). There are over
85,000 manufactured chemicals, of which thousands may be EDCs. A short list of
representative EDCs and their applications is provided in Table 2. There are dozens
of other processes and products that include EDCs, too numerous to include
in this table.
TABLE 2. SOME KNOWN EDCS AND THEIR USES
Category/Use
Pesticides
Children’s products
Food contact materials
Electronics and Building materials
Personal care products, medical tubing
Antibacterials
Textiles, clothing
Example EDCs
DDT, chlorpyrifos, atrazine,
2,4-D, glyphosate
Lead, phthalates, cadmium
BPA, phthalates, phenol
Brominated flame retardants, PCBs
Phthalates
Triclosan
Perfluorochemicals
Abbreviations: BPA: bisphenol A; 2,4-D: 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid; DDT: dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane;
PCBs: polychlorinated biphenyls
People and animals come into contact with EDCs by a variety of routes (Table 3),
including consumption of food and water, through the skin, by inhalation, and by
transfer from mother to fetus (across the placenta) or mother to infant (via lactation)
if a woman has EDCs in her body.
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