News Brief

EPA to Screen Chemicals for Endocrine Disruption

In passing the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, Congress required the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to test pesticides for disruption of the human endocrine system, which produces and regulates hormones. After years of delays, EPA announced in June 2007 that it would test 73 pesticides that people commonly encounter in homes and workplaces, including in landscaping and in building materials. Actual testing won’t take place until 2008. Critics of the announcement, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, which sued in 1999 to make EPA begin testing, argued that existing data already identifies some chemicals as endocrine disruptors. The 73 chemicals to be tested are a fraction of the thousands of pesticide ingredients that the 1996 law requires EPA to test. The list of chemicals is at www.epa.gov/endo/pubs/prioritysetting/draftlist.htm.

Published July 10, 2007

Roberts, T. (2007, July 10). EPA to Screen Chemicals for Endocrine Disruption. Retrieved from https://www.buildinggreen.com/newsbrief/epa-screen-chemicals-endocrine-disruption

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