If you were looking for good news about endocrine disputers, you’re out of luck. A global report by the World Health Organization has found extensive damage to wildlife from endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and could not rule out possible risks for humans as well. EDCs — which lurk in pesticide residues on food, plastics, household products, and industrial chemicals, among other places — can mimic the natural hormones that control a variety of functions, including reproduction. Many scientists fear that exposure to EDCs can cause reproductive difficulties, cancer, endometriosis, early puberty, altered neural function, and immune system problems in humans, but the evidence remains inconclusive. In wildlife, however, EDCs have had clear health effects, such as eggshell thinning and altered gonad development in birds.
