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In 2002, the joint International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) of the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) published a report titled Global Assessment of the State-of-the-Science of Endocrine Disruptors (http://www.who.int/ipcs/publications/new_issues/endocrine_disruptors/en/). Since 2002, intense scientific work has improved our understanding of the impacts of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on human and wildlife health, such that in 2012, the UNEP and WHO, in collaboration with international experts, have produced an updated document on EDCs, State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals - 2012 (http://www.who.int/ceh/publications/endocrine/en/index.html) that includes scientific information on human and wildlife impacts and lists key concerns for decision makers and others concerned about the future of human and wildlife health.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an endocrine disruptor. To evaluate the effect of canned food consumption on internal BPA dose, urinary BPA concentrations were measured before and after intake of canned foods. This study applied a randomized crossover design, recruited 20 healthy volunteers, and divided them into two groups. One group consumed canned food; the other group consumed fresh food. After a 1-day washout, the dietary interventions were reversed. In each period, urine samples were collected immediately before meals and then 2 h, 4 h, and 6 h after meals. A mixed-effects model was used to assess BPA changes over time. Our results showed urinary BPA concentrations increased after consumption of canned food. Specifically, urinary BPA concentrations significantly differed between consumption of canned food and fresh food at 2 h, 4 h, and 6 h after intake ( p values of 0.001, < 0.001, and < 0.001, respectively). Mean BPA concentrations at 2 h, 4 h, and 6 h after meals were 152%, 206%, and 79% higher, respectively, than mean BPA concentrations before meals. Urine concentration profiles of canned food intake showed that peaks were at 4 h, the increase diminished at 6 h, and returned to baseline levels at 24 h after intake. Therefore, dietary intervention and a 1-day washout period are effective for limiting internal BPA burden. This study provides convincing evidence of a human exposure route to BPA and a basis for designing interventions to mitigate exposure.

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) are a global problem for environmental and human health. They are defined as “an exogenous chemical, or mixture of chemicals, that can interfere with any aspect of hormone action”. It is estimated that there are about 1000 chemicals with endocrine-acting properties. EDCs comprise pesticides, fungicides, industrial chemicals, plasticizers, nonylphenols, metals, pharmaceutical agents and phytoestrogens. Human exposure to EDCs mainly occurs by ingestion and to some extent by inhalation and dermal uptake. Most EDCs are lipophilic and bioaccumulate in the adipose tissue, thus they have a very long half-life in the body. It is difficult to assess the full impact of human exposure to EDCs because adverse effects develop latently and manifest at later ages, and in some people do not present. Timing of exposure is of importance. Developing fetus and neonates are the most vulnerable to endocrine disruption. EDCs may interfere with synthesis, action and metabolism of sex steroid hormones that in turn cause developmental and fertility problems, infertility and hormone-sensitive cancers in women and men. Some EDCs exert obesogenic effects that result in disturbance in energy homeostasis. Interference with hypothalamo-pituitary-thyroid and adrenal axes has also been reported. In this review, potential EDCs, their effects and mechanisms of action, epidemiological studies to analyze their effects on human health, bio-detection and chemical identification methods, difficulties in extrapolating experimental findings and studying endocrine disruptors in humans and recommendations for endocrinologists, individuals and policy makers will be discussed in view of the relevant literature.

Endocrine disruptors (EDCs) have been associated with the increased incidence of metabolic disorders. In this work, we conducted a systematic review of the literature in order to identify the current knowledge of the interactions between EDCs in food, the gut microbiota, and metabolic disorders in order to shed light on this complex triad. Exposure to EDCs induces a series of changes including microbial dysbiosis and the induction of xenobiotic pathways and associated genes, enzymes, and metabolites involved in EDC metabolism. The products and by-products released following the microbial metabolism of EDCs can be taken up by the host; therefore, changes in the composition of the microbiota and in the production of microbial metabolites could have a major impact on host metabolism and the development of diseases. The remediation of EDC-induced changes in the gut microbiota might represent an alternative course for the treatment and prevention of metabolic diseases.

Abstract Background Considerable attention has been paid to perfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs) because of their worldwide presence in humans, wildlife, and environment. A wide variety of toxicological effects is well supported in animals, including testicular toxicity and male infertility. For these reasons, the understanding of epidemiological associations and of the molecular mechanisms involved in the endocrine-disrupting properties of PFCs on human reproductive health is a major concern. Objective To investigate the relationship between PFC exposure and male reproductive health. Design This study was performed within a screening protocol to evaluate male reproductive health in high schools. Patients This is a cross-sectional study on 212 exposed males from the Veneto region, one of the four areas worldwide heavily polluted with PFCs, and 171 nonexposed controls. Main Outcome Measures Anthropometrics, seminal parameters, and sex hormones were measured in young males from exposed areas compared with age-matched controls. We also performed biochemical studies in established experimental models. Results We found that increased levels of PFCs in plasma and seminal fluid positively correlate with circulating testosterone (T) and with a reduction of semen quality, testicular volume, penile length, and anogenital distance. Experimental evidence points toward an antagonistic action of perfluorooctanoic acid on the binding of T to androgen receptor (AR) in a gene reporter assay, a competition assay on an AR-coated surface plasmon resonance chip, and an AR nuclear translocation assay. Discussion This study documents that PFCs have a substantial impact on human health as they interfere with hormonal pathways, potentially leading to male infertility. PFC exposure leads to impairment of the male reproductive system, which is supported by experimental evidence showing an interference of these chemicals on the binding of testosterone to its receptor.

documents a consensus of more than 200 scientists and medical professionals on the hazards of and lack of demonstrated benefit from common uses of triclosan and triclocarban. These chemicals may be used in thousands of personal care and consumer products as well as in building materials. Based on extensive peer-reviewed research, this statement concludes that triclosan and triclocarban are environmentally persistent endocrine disruptors that bioaccumulate in and are toxic to aquatic and other organisms. Evidence of other hazards to humans and ecosystems from triclosan and triclocarban is presented along with recommendations intended to prevent future harm from triclosan, triclocarban, and antimicrobial substances with similar properties and effects. Because antimicrobials can have unintended adverse health and environmental impacts, they should only be used when they provide an evidence-based health benefit. Greater transparency is needed in product formulations, and before an antimicrobial is incorporated into a product, the long-term health and ecological impacts should be evaluated. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1788.

When a biologic mechanism of interest is anticipated to operate differentially according to sex, as is often the case in endocrine disruptors research, investigators routinely estimate sex-specific associations. Less attention has been given to potential sexual heterogeneity of confounder associations with outcomes. When relationships of covariates with outcomes differ according to sex, commonly applied statistical approaches for estimating sex-specific endocrine disruptor effects may produce divergent estimates. We discuss underlying assumptions and evaluate the performance of two traditional approaches for estimating sex-specific effects, stratification and product terms, and introduce a simple modeling alternative: an augmented product term approach. We describe the impact of assumptions regarding sexual heterogeneity of confounder relationships on estimates of sex-specific effects of the exposure of interest for three approaches: stratification, traditional product terms, and augmented product terms. Using simulated and applied examples, we demonstrate properties of each approach under a range of scenarios. In simulations, sex-specific exposure effects estimated using the traditional product term approach were biased when confounders had sex-dependent associations with the outcome. Sex-specific estimates from stratification and the augmented product term approach were unbiased but less precise. In the applied example, the three approaches yielded similar estimates, but resulted in some meaningful differences in conclusions based on statistical significance. Investigators should consider sexual heterogeneity of confounder associations when choosing an analytic approach to estimate sex-specific effects of endocrine disruptors on health. In the presence of sex-dependent confounding, our augmented product term approach may be advantageous over stratification when there is prior knowledge available to fit reduced models or when investigators seek an automated test for effect measure modification. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP334.

In this study, Fe3O4 was used as a magnetic core, combined with the characteristics of mesoporous adsorbents, to prepare a novel magnetic mesoporous composite material named MMC. Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) were used as functional monomers, and a simple etching method was employed. The resulting MMC was used as an effective adsorbent for the magnetic solid-phase extraction of trace residues of six bisphenol endocrine disruptors (bisphenol A, bisphenol B, bisphenol C, bisphenol F, bisphenol AF, and bisphenol AP) from environmental water and food samples. Characterization results indicated that the surface of MMC exhibited a distinct wormhole-like mesoporous structure, with the successful incorporation of CTAB functional groups and Si-OH. The crystal structure of Fe3O4 remained stable throughout the preparation process. Mapping analysis confirmed the uniform distribution of CTAB functional groups without aggregation and demonstrated high magnetic intensity, enabling rapid separation and collection under an external magnetic field. Extraction and elution conditions were optimized, and tests were conducted for interfering substances such as humic acid, glucose, fructose, and sucrose under optimal parameters. The results showed that recovery rates were not significantly affected. The quality evaluation of the method demonstrated good linearity, a broad linear range, low limits of detection and quantification, and satisfactory recovery rates. Blank and spiked analyses were conducted for seven real samples, including environmental water (rivers and lakes) and food samples (dairy, juice, and carbonated beverages), with satisfactory spiked recovery rates achieved. Thus, the developed analytical method enables the analysis and detection of trace residues of various bisphenol pollutants in complex matrices, such as environmental water and food samples, providing a valuable reference for trace analysis of similar contaminants in complex matrices.

The presence of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), flame retardants (FRs), pesticides, and artificial sweeteners (ASWs) in the aquatic environments remains a major challenge to the environment and human health. In this review, the classification and occurrence of emerging contaminants in aquatic environments were discussed in detail. It is well documented that CECs are susceptible to poor removal during the conventional wastewater treatment plants, which introduce them back to the environment ranging from nanogram per liter (e.g., carbamazepine) up to milligram per liter (e.g., acesulfame) concentration level. Meanwhile, a deep insight into the application of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) on mitigation of the CECs from aquatic environment was presented. In this regard, the utilization of various treatment technologies based on AOPs including ozonation, Fenton processes, sonochemical, and TiO 2 heterogeneous photocatalysis was reviewed. Additionally, some innovations (e.g., visible light heterogeneous photocatalysis, electro-Fenton) concerning the AOPs and the combined utilization of AOPs (e.g., sono-Fenton) were documented.

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