From: PANUPS <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001
To: PANUPS <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: PANUPS: Action Alert: Hormone Disrupting Chemicals - Urge U.S.
Congress to fund
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P A N U P S
Pesticide Action Network Updates Service
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Action Alert: Hormone Disrupting Chemicals - Urge U.S. Congress to fund
research and testing
June 27, 2001
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has requested $20.3 million
for fiscal year 2002 to screen, test, and conduct research on endocrine
disrupting chemicals, widespread synthetic compounds that disrupt the
functioning of hormone systems. In the next few weeks, the U.S. Congress
will allocate funds for the upcoming fiscal year and decide whether or not
to approve the EPA's request. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) urges you to
write the U.S. Congress and encourage them to support EPA's work by
providing the requested funds to help protect wildlife and humans from
endocrine disruptors.
Due to the serious hazard endocrine disruptors pose to wildlife and humans,
Congress required EPA in the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 to
establish a screening and testing program for these chemicals. Although EPA
has made some progress, no validated screens and tests have been put in
place.
Exposure to endocrine disruptors is associated with reproductive,
neurological, and behavioral problems. These chemicals can disrupt normal
cellular communication, limit the production of chemical messengers and
interfere with development of organs, the immune and nervous systems,
reproductive function, and growth processes as well as increasing the
incidence of specific diseases (e.g., childhood diabetes, childhood cancer,
and thyroid diseases). Many pesticides are endocrine disrupting chemicals
including aldicarb, atrazine, endosulfan and lindane (see the PANNA
pesticide database for more information: http://pesticideinfo.org).
Scientific studies have found endocrine disruption in birds, fish,
shellfish, mammals, alligators, and turtles. High concentrations of suspect
chemicals have been found in whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and polar
bears. Killer whales in the Pacific Northwest contain some of the highest
concentrations of PCBs (an endocrine disruptor) found in wildlife. Bald
eagles that nest along the shores of the Great Lakes and eat food
contaminated with endocrine disrupting chemicals are experiencing continued
reproductive problems. Canadian scientists have linked spraying of endocrine
disrupting pesticides with declines in Atlantic salmon populations. Effects
on wildlife include brain damage, premature deaths, reproductive problems,
abnormal development of the reproductive tract, both subtle and gross birth
defects, thyroid dysfunction, severely weakened immune systems, cancers, and
behavioral changes.
Humans are also at risk. There is now a growing collection of studies
revealing that some of these chemicals can affect children's ability to
learn, to socially integrate, to fend off disease, and to reproduce. In most
instances, there is no way to answer without great uncertainty how endocrine
disruptors are affecting people, because there is no unexposed population to
study as a control group and because scientists do not for ethical reasons
conduct experiments on people. Nevertheless, there is disturbing evidence
from studies in Michigan and New York that children whose mothers were
exposed to PCBs from contaminated fish or other sources exhibit short-term
memory and behavioral problems. As the children have grown, there has been a
consistent correlation between their developmental problems and the PCBs
(from fish or other sources) in their mothers while they were in the womb.
Hormones influence development even at extremely low doses: one-tenth of a
trillionth of a gram. Low doses of endocrine disruptors have been found to
cause disturbing and irreversible effects in male and female laboratory mice
exposed prenatally to endocrine disruptors.
Unfortunately, since we only know the endocrine disruption effects of a tiny
fraction of the thousands of synthetic chemicals released into our
environment, research and testing of these chemicals is urgently needed. The
U.S. Congress will soon make a decision regarding the EPA's funding request
for vitally important programs to screen, test, and conduct research on
endocrine disruptors.
To support further action on these hazardous chemicals, contact members of
Congress as soon as possible and urge them to approve EPA's funding request
for screening, testing, and conducting research on endocrine disrupting
chemicals.
How to reach members of Congress: Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202)
224-3121, look up your Senator on the U.S. Senate Web site at
http://www.senate.gov or look up your Representative on the U.S. House of
Representatives website at http://www.house.gov.
To send a free email message urging congressional representatives to support
EPA's budget request for its endocrine disruptor programs go to
http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org.
Source/Contact
World Wildlife Fund, 1250 24th Street NW, Suite 500, Washington DC,
20037-1175; phone (202) 778-9644; fax (202) 530-0743; Web sites:
http://wwfus.org and http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org.
PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and
reporting on pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the
mainstream media. It's produced by Pesticide Action Network North America, a
non-profit and non-governmental organization working to advance sustainable
alternatives to pesticides worldwide.
You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations for our work and all
contributions are tax deductible in the United States. Visit our extensive
web site at http://www.panna.org to learn more about getting involved.
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Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA)
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Phone: (415) 981-1771
Fax: (415) 981-1991
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.panna.org
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