INTERNATIONAL UNION OF PURE AND APPLIED CHEMISTRY DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY AND THE ENVIRONMENT COMMISSION ON WATER AND SOIL * ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS IN THE ENVIRONMENT

Abstract : Many chemical substances of natural or anthropogenic origin are sus-pected or known to be endocrine disruptors, which can influence the endocrinesystem of life. This observation has led to increased interest on the part of the pub-lic and the media, as well as to a steep rise of research activities in the scientificcommunity. New papers and results are presented so fast that it is impossible togive a complete review of this emerging research field. Therefore, this paper triesto give insight into some topics of the great scope of endocrine disruptors in theenvironment. To get a general idea of the biochemical and biological background,some parts of the endocrine systems of mammalians and nonmammalians are ex-plained. The sections that follow describe important mechanisms of endocrine dis-ruption such as interactions with hormone receptors. Test strategies for anthro-pogenic chemicals on various organisms are critically reviewed with respect totheir problems and gaps concerning endocrine disruptors. The main emphasis ofthe paper is on the chemical substances suspected or known to be endocrine dis-ruptors. To get a better comprehension of their behavior in the environment,physicochemical data such as water solubility or