Endocrine Disruption and Human Reproductive Effects: An Overview

Humans of all ages interact with their environment on a daily basis and are thus exposed to a variety of both man-made and naturally occurring chemicals through the air they breath, the water they drink and the food they eat. The potential for exposure to environmental contaminants to impact the function of the reproductive system and affect normal development of the reproductive tract has become an area of increasing concern at all levels of society. Environment Canada and Health Canada jointly organized a workshop to review the current state of knowledge on endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and to establish a national science agenda on the scientific assessment of EDCs. This report summarizes the key scientific literature pertaining to the role of EDCs in a number of selected human reproductive/developmental outcomes. Change in the frequency of health outcome trends, epidemiological evidence of an association between the health outcome of concern and exposure to EDCs, and mechanistic evidence of receptor-mediated effects were the criteria used to evaluate the strength of the evidence. While it cannot be concluded that EDCs cause reproductive effects in the general Canadian population, the weight of evidence provides cause for continued concern.