Just published: special issue of Chimia on endocrine disruptors

12 July 2008

In 2001, the Swiss National Science Foundation launched a large-scale National Research Programme (NFP 50) on «Endocrine Disruptors: Relevance to Humans, Animals and Ecosystems». Total funding of CHF 15 million was provided over a period of 6 years. Eawag made a significant contribution to NFP 50: not only were 5 of the 31 research projects led by Eawag researchers, but Eawag scientists were also actively involved in a number of other projects. Key findings from NFP 50 have now been summarized in a special issue of the journal Chimia.

The environmental impacts of endocrine-disrupting compounds were only recently discovered – the insidious nature of these substances is due to the fact that they act, as it were, «undercover»:

• they are effective at concentrations well below conventional toxicity values,
• they only affect organisms during a highly restricted time window, i.e. during development,
• their adverse effects, however, can extend as far as the fourth generation − as a result of epigenetic transmission, in which traits are not passed on to offspring via altered DNA sequences, but through heritable changes in gene regulation and gene expression.

NFP50 investigated a wide variety of questions concerning the activity of endocrine disruptors. Research focused in particular on substances such as UV filters, phytoestrogens, fungal toxins, phenols, brominated flame retardants, dioxins and certain air pollutants. Other priorities included aquatic ecosystems and fish, as well as humans. Efforts were made, not least, to develop methods for detection and risk assessment. A review of this work appears in the May issue of the journal Chimia, which is devoted exclusively to NFP 50.

Articles from the special issue of Chimia to which Eawag researchers contributed:

• ipso-substitution − A novel pathway for microbial metabolism of endocrine disrupting 4-nonylphenols, 4-alkoxyphenols, and bisphenol A
  Hans-Peter Kohler, Frédéric Gabriel und Walter Giger
  
  
• Estrogenic endocrine disruption in Switzerland: Assessment of fish exposure and effects
  Patricia Burkhardt-Holm, Helmut Segner, Richard Burki, Armin Peter, Sara Schubert, Marc Suter und Mark Borsuk
  
  
• Gonadal malformations in whitefish from Lake Thun: Defining the case and evaluating the role of EDCs
  Daniel Bernet, Anja Liedtke, David Bittner, Rik Eggen, Sibylle Kipfer, Christoph Küng, Carlo Largiader, Marc Suter, Thomas Wahli und Helmut Segner
  
  
• Estrogens in Swiss rivers and effluents − Sampling matters
  Etiënne Vermeirssen, Rik Eggen, Beate Escher und Marc Suter
  
  
• Dynamique substance flow analysis as a valuable risk evaluation tool − A case study for brominated flame retardants as an example of potential endocrine disrupters
  Leo Morf, Andreas Buser, Ruedi Taverna, Hans-Peter Bader und Ruth Scheidegger
  
  
• www.nfp50.ch