With ongoing public discussion of endocrine disruptors (EDs), EndocrineScienceMatters.org was launched by CropLife International to publicly discuss the latest science on key issues and how crop protection products are tested for potential endocrine-disrupting effects.
Strong scientific evidence shows that crop protection products do not cause endocrine-related diseases or conditions such as cancer, diabetes or obesity. In fact, human exposure to these products is orders of magnitude lower than exposure to common, natural and more potent endocrine active substances like sugar, caffeine and soy protein. Independent of such substances, multiple factors account for increases in endocrine-related diseases or conditions, such as lifestyle, diet, body weight and changes in diagnostic criteria.
The weight of available scientific evidence supports maintaining current testing and risk assessment approaches related to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, including crop protection products. EndocrineScienceMatter.org explains why. It discusses the endocrine system, endocrine active substances and EDs; adverse effects; crop protection products and endocrine testing; weight of evidence approach; endocrine-related diseases and crop protection products; reference values for regulation; thresholds; low-dose effects; non-monotonic dose responses; mixture effects; and sensitive windows of exposure and vulnerable populations.
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Resources:
- Potential Trade Effects on Selected Agricultural Exporters to EU Under Regulation 1107/2009 (“Hazard Based Cut-Offs”) – Download
- Policy Perspective on Endocrine Disruptors – Download
- Endocrine Disruption: Regulatory Testing and Assessment of Crop Protection Products – Download
Other useful resources:
EndocrineScience.org – American Chemistry Council
A Reasonable Debate – European Crop Protection Association