Endocrine Toxicology PDF

Preface

If toxicology is the study of how substances harm living organisms, then endocrine toxicology focuses on targets of impairment in the complex of hormone synthesis and action. This field becomes seriously compelling when one realizes that hormones are themselves "nature's chemicals," produced inside the body to modulate myriad functions. One can envisage this endocrine complex becoming an easy target for foreign imitators and inhibitors. Yet, until the past decade, interest in endocrine toxicology seldom ventured beyond the academic.

In just a few years, hormone-related toxicology has erupted into a cogent deliberation among governments, industries, and interest groups. While credit is certainly due to the progression of technology in the hands of those seeking to define endocrine effects, it appears to us that the discipline's salubrious moment occurred upon the passage of the Food Quality Protection Act. With it, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was empowered to

develop a screening program, using appropriate validated test systems and other scientifically relevant information, to determine whether certain substances may have an effect in humans that is similar to an effect produced by a naturally occurring estrogen, or other such endocrine effect as the Administrator may designate.

408(p), FFDCA, 21 U.S.C. 346a(p)

Suddenly, the world demands to know if we are being exposed to substances that can interfere with proper function of a system that manages, among other things, our metabolism, growth, and reproduction. The potential for similar consequences among wildlife species draws concomitant scrutiny. Terms such as endocrine disruptor and xenoestrogen are being freely discussed among governmental regulatory agencies, legislative bodies, manufacturers, and the worldwide Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.

This third edition of Endocrine Toxicology appears at a moment when the field has indeed emerged far beyond the recondite. A lot of people are thinking about endocrine disruptors today, yet many are perhaps only marginally familiar with the science. To this end, we have organized a collection of research findings and discussion by international investigators representing universities, government, and manufacturing. We asked each contributor to focus on the following mechanisms: How the endocrine system is labile? How impairment can be established and quantified? Where threats lie for wildlife and human health? How regulation might be implemented effectively?

The edition contains 17 chapters clustered around five distinct themes: methods to identify endocrine disruptors, cutting-edge research using molecular technology, reviews of research on mammalian species, studies of wildlife effects, and discussions of regulatory policy.

It is hoped that this compilation will provide something useful for everyone who actively contemplates the issues of endocrine toxicology: in industry, government, academics, or public affairs, as a researcher, instructor, regulator, consultant, manager, or commentator. Endocrine toxicology has now spread across disparate sectors, and the goal of this edition is to provide insight to all who seek greater discernment.