Environmental Endocrine Disruptors (EEDs) are one of several categories of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs). Other categories include pharmaceuticals (such as diethylstilbestrol [DES]) and phytoestrogens (which occur naturally in certain foods such as soybeans, wheat, peas, etc.).
EEDs are of interest to the Environmental Chemistry Division because they include a wide variety of pesticides, heavy metals, and certain industrial chemicals which are environmental pollutants. A list of 103 known and suspected EEDs was presented at the WTQA '97 symposium in July, 1997. This symposium, sponsored by the EPA and the Division of Environmental Chemistry, was one of a series of symposia focused on these important pollutants. Another symposium on this topic was held at the national ACS meeting in Boston, MA in August 1998. A third symposium was organized for the ACS National Meeting in San Francisco, CA in March 2000. In August 1999 at the American Chemical Society (ACS) 218th National Meeting in New Orleans, LA the Division of Environmental Chemistry held a major symposium on Analytical Challenges for Assessing Environmental Exposures to Children. The symposium was organized by Dr. Larry Needham, Chief of the Analytical Toxicology Branch at the National Center for Environmental Health of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and it was cosponsored by the ACS Committee on Environmental Improvement. Information from this symposium was abstracted from the Division's Preprints of Extended Abstracts and notes taken at the symposium. Endocrine disrupting chemicals were some of the topics of concern at this symposium.
A summary of the effects of EEDs and links to other information sites are available at a web page devoted to endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment by Instant Reference Sources. Also new at this site is a free PowerPoint slide show summary on Preventing Children's Exposure to Endocrine Disruptors - A Teaching Aid. A larger, comprehensive slide show is also commercially available at this site. The very latest developments are presented along with ways to prevent or minimize children's exposure to these chemicals. The slides may be used with Microsoft's Ò PowerPointÒ Viewer for presentations or printed for handouts. Teachers will be able to use these slides for materials that can be used to discuss this topic at PTA meetings, other community and public outreach forums, and in the classroom.