An endocrine disruptor is an external agent that interferes in some way with the role of natural hormones in the body. An agent might disrupt the endocrine system by affecting any of the various stages of hormone production and activity, such as by preventing the synthesis of hormones, by directly binding to hormone receptors, or by interfering with the natural breakdown of hormones.

This link can be used to identify substances prioritized for testing for endocrine disruption by the European Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/endocrine/strategy/substances_en.htm#priority_list. To download the list of substances, see the zipped file under the heading “Priority List”.

This report describes the process used to develop the EU endocrine disrupters priority list: Study on enhancing the Endocrine Disrupter priority list with a focus on low production volume chemicals.

At this time, the U.S. EPA does not consider endocrine disruption to be an adverse endpoint per se, but a step that could lead to toxic outcomes, such as cancer or adverse reproductive effects.

While it was recognized that there are concerns for potential endocrine disrupting substances, most TAC members agreed that, at this time, we cannot qualify them and that credible and robust criteria for identifying endocrine disrupting substances have yet to be developed ¹.

We acknowledge these uncertainties and accept that this is a controversial topic. Nonetheless, many stakeholders are interested in this topic, primarily due to the attention that the alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs) have received ².

Therefore, although we will not be evaluating endocrine disrupting properties per se, suppliers may enter information related to the endocrine disrupting properties of their materials. Such information may include references to literature, screens, or tests that provide insight into this attribute.

¹ Visit the website and final report of the Endocrine Disruptor Screening and Testing Advisory Committee (EDSTAC) at http://www.epa.gov/endo/pubs/edspoverview/edstac.htm

² APEs, such as nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPE) are not considered to have endocrine disrupting properties themselves, however one of their potential breakdown products (nonylphenol, NP) has been shown to be weakly estrogenic in some test systems.