Endocrine Research Update

Do chemical compounds in the environment adversely affect endo-crine systems, as some people allege, or is this a false contention? Is there a risk sufficient to require that specific chemical compounds or products should be modified or eliminated? Passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Food Quality Protection Act in the 104th Congress mandate that the Environmental Protection Agency will take steps toward answering these questions. Research is now being undertaken by:

National Academy of Science (NAS) Board of Environmental Studies and Toxicology, at the request of EPA and the Department of Interior, has established a Committee on Hormone-Related Toxicants in the Environment. This academic panel is investigating potential endocrine disruption in the environment and will recommend actions regarding research, monitoring and testing. The NAS panel will suggest which if any substances should be tested, what a screening program should look like, and how to judge risks.

White House National Science and Technology Council has established an interagency working group on endocrine modulators under the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR). CENR will inventory federal research, identify gaps, and devise a plan to fill them in.

EPA has established the Endocrine Disruptor Screening and Testing Advisory Committee (EDSTAC). It will advise EPA on strategy to screen and test chemical compounds that could cause endocrine disruption in order to reduce or mitigate risk to human health and the environment. EDSTAC will include representatives from EPA, the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services, academic researchers, industry, labor, water providers, public health groups, environmental groups and state agencies.

Chemical Industry Institute of Technology (CIIT), a research center funded by industry, the National Institutes of Health and EPA, has earmarked $1.5 million to study endocrine disruption issues in the next year. CIIT scientists estimate that a testing protocol for endocrine modulation could be operative within the next three to five years.

Chlorine Chemistry Council (CCC), a group of U.S. chlorine-related companies within the Chemical Manufacturers Association, has created the Research Foundation for Health and Environmental Effects (RFHEE). CCC member contributions will be matched with funding from other organizations. CCC will provide $2.5 million in funding. ARCC union representatives have attended Foundation-funded research presentations.

The Endocrine Group, a coalition of 14 industry associations including the Chlorine Chemistry Council (CCC), the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) and other groups, will investigate endocrine issues.

European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) has formed an Endocrine Modulators Steering Group to work with the European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals.

Achieving sustainable development practices is critical to all manufacturing workers and companies, as well as the service industries relying on their products. The industries that build cars, appliances, electronics, computers, aircraft - that build homes and buildings and raise crops and animals - all create waste materials. But they also put food on the table for hundreds of millions of people here and abroad, and have helped to raise living standards and increase human longevity. They help provide the wealth needed to fund scientific and technological advances and make the future a cleaner place for the world's billions.

Chlorine chemistry industries should play a key role in developing sustainable practices in factories, on farms and in communities. Everyone knows that chlorine chemistry provides our safe drinking water. But chlorine chemistry also provides the building-blocks for most chemicals, plastics, pharmaceuticals, pulp and paper, computers, electronics, advanced materials, medical devices, crop protection and other essential products. Worldwide, as many as five million people work in chlorine chemistry industries. These workers provide the products which make possible additional millions of jobs in the manufacturing and service sectors.

In the U.S. alone, the chemical industry provides high-wage employment for a million people. According to EPA, the chemical industry has cut its emissions more than 60 percent in the last decade - while providing a major positive trade balance and assuming the role of U.S. leader in investment for research and development and pollution control technology. While more work must be done, it seems obvious that this industry (and others) should be encouraged to continue making environmental progress while still providing good jobs.

Right now, EPA is poised to finish writing the final rules for MACT I, MACT III, and the water regulations for bleached mills. The next step is a review by the federal Office of Management and Budget, after which these portions of the rule will be put into effect.

Other segments of the Cluster Rule will probably be finalized piece-by-piece by EPA during 1997. Comments and action by all concerned parties will be needed because, in each case, the new comment period will be the last opportunity to influence each segment of the rule before it is published as final regulation.