The USA’s National Institute of Environmental Health Services (NIEHS) started work on the endocrine disrupting effects of the medicine diethylstilbestrol (DES) in the 1970s, and research has continued into low dose residues of other hormone-changing drugs. A World Health Organisation/UN Environment Programme (UNEP) study released in 2013 called for more studies on endocrine disrupters, or EDs, in general.
The European Union (EU) is also well aware of the problem, and has been studying and debating the issue, trying to work out what EU controls might be needed to limit the impact of endocrine disrupters, and is currently staging a round of public consultations. A ‘road map’ released in June 2014 by the European Commission outlined three main options under consideration.
EU action will depend on whether it concludes that endocrine disrupters merit their own special definition under EU legislation – and if they do, whether existing laws need to be amended to control them, or new laws should be enacted. Any changes are likely to focus on the EU 2012 biocidal products regulation and also the 2009 plant protection products regulation, and will have an impact on the EU chemical control system REACH. A European Commission note on the subject has stressed: ‘There is growing concern in the EU and worldwide about negative human health and environmental impacts possibly caused by endocrine disruptors.’
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