Exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Canada: Population-Based Estimates of Disease Burden and Economic Costs

Abstract

Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) contributes to substantial disease burden worldwide. We aim to quantify the disease burden and costs of EDC exposure in Canada and to compare these results with previously published findings in the European Union (EU) and United States (US). EDC biomonitoring data from the Canadian Health Measures Survey (2007–2011) was applied to 15 exposure–response relationships, and population and cost estimates were based on the 2010 general Canadian population. EDC exposure in Canada (CAD 24.6 billion) resulted in substantially lower costs than the US (USD 340 billion) and EU (USD 217 billion). Nonetheless, our findings suggest that EDC exposure contributes to substantial and costly disease burden in Canada, amounting to 1.25% of the annual Canadian gross domestic product. As in the US, exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers was the greatest contributor of costs (8.8 billion for 374,395 lost IQ points and 2.6 billion for 1610 cases of intellectual disability). In the EU, organophosphate pesticides were the largest contributor to costs (USD 121 billion). While the burden of EDC exposure is greater in the US and EU, there remains a similar need for stronger EDC regulatory action in Canada beyond the current framework of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act of 1999.