Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in the Environment

Abstract

A new paradigm has emerged in the environmental field related to potential regulation of water and wastewater based on endocrine disruption effects in a wide range of organisms including humans. Nearly all animals have some sort of endocrine system. The endocrine system in humans is complex and includes the thyroid, pituitary, adrenal, pancreas, testes, and ovaries. Endocrine disrupting chemicals, or EDCs, interfere with the function of the endocrine system through a variety of mechanisms such as by mimicking the effects of a hormone or blocking of a hormone receptor site. An increasing number of studies have linked a myriad of anthropogenic chemicals to disruption of endocrine systems within animals, including humans, and potentially adverse impacts on their normal physiological development and metabolism. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ~USEPA! has taken notice of the issue of EDCs in the environment and is conducting a broad and complex screening program to assess which of many thousands of anthropogenic compounds are EDCs. Potential EDCs include compounds such as pesticides ~e.g., atrazine, methoxychlor!, surfactants ~e.g., nonylphenol!, plasticizers ~e.g., diethylphthalate!, synthetic hormones, and perhaps even nitrates. The USEPA is actively considering the regulation of drinking water based on endocrine disruption effects. For example, studies suggest that atrazine and its chlorinated metabolites have a common mechanism of endocrine disruption. On this basis, the USEPA is considering promulgating a regulation on ‘‘total chloros-triazines’’ based an endocrine disruption endpoint in addition to the current regulation of atrazine and simazine individually based on a carcinogenicity endpoint. While regulations adapt to the emergence of this new class of water pollutant, EDCs continue to be discovered in our surface waters, groundwater, and soils. In this special issue of the Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management, we have assembled a suite of papers that address key topics with respect to this new paradigm in the environmental field. The paper by Huang et al., ‘‘Occurrence and effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment,’’ describes the occurrence and environmental impact of these chemicals. This is followed by ‘‘Endocrine disruptors as a new regulatory endpoint’’ by Robertson that discusses the regulatory framework being used to regulate EDCs. The next four papers—‘‘Overview of occurrence of endocrinedisrupting and other wastewater compounds during water treatment’’ with case studies from Lincoln, Nebraska, and Berlin, Germany by Verstreten et al.; ‘‘Control of total chloro-s-triazines in conventional drinking water treatment plants’’ by Adams; ‘‘Occurrence and degradation of estrogenic nonylphenol and its precursors in northeast Kansas wastewater treatment plants’’ by Keller et al.; and ‘‘Biological wastewater treatment and estrogenic endocrine disrupting compounds: Importance of colloidal organic carbon’’ by Holbrook et al.—focus on the occurrence and fate and control of EDCs in municipal water and wastewater treatment facilities. Finally, ‘‘Analytical methods used to measure endocrine disrupting compounds in water’’ by Snyder et al. presents a discussion of the analytical methods used to measure EDCs at environmentally relevant concentrations. The emergence of EDCs as an important category of water pollutants has the potential to significantly impact the manner in which water and wastewater are regulated, protected, and treated in the near future.