(Beyond Pesticides, April 29, 2009) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced earlier this month that it is finally ready to move forward with preliminary testing of 67 active and inert pesticide ingredients for possible endocrine disrupting effects. But, according to prominent researcher and author Theo Colborn, PhD, these tests are outdated, insensitive, crude, and [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 17, 2009) Thirteen years after the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) ordered EPA to develop a screening process for endocrine disrupting chemicals, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a final list of chemicals to be included in Tier 1 testing for endocrine disrupting effects of pesticides in use. While the list [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 19, 2009) The Endocrine Exchange (TEDX) has released a new database on the prenatal origins of endocrine disruption, called Critical Windows of Development. It compares human development in the womb with laboratory research showing where and when low-dose exposures to chemicals have effects. The timeline currently charts three chemicals: dioxin, bisphenol A [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 22, 2009) A new English study has found that chemicals found in rivers and waste waters could be linked to male infertility. These chemicals, known as anti-androgens, block the action of the male sex-hormone testosterone and could impact the development of male reproductive organs in humans. The study entitled, “Statistical Modeling Suggests [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, December 2, 2008) Tributyltin (also known as TBT), a ubiquitous pollutant that has a potent effect on gene activity, could be promoting obesity, according to an article in the December issue of BioScience, the journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. The chemical is used in antifouling paints for boats, as a [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 23, 2008) According to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s 2007 Water Quality Monitoring Report, released in August 2008, the endocrine disrupting herbicide atrazine is detected in pristine lakes in northern Minnesota far from the agricultural fields where it is applied. Metolachlor, acetochlor and dimethenamid are also frequent contaminants, according to the statewide [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 22, 2008) A study published in the September issue of Environmental Health Perspectives finds that low-dose, short-term exposure to esfenvalerate, a synthetic pyrethroid pesticide, delays the onset of puberty in rats at doses two times lower than U.S. EPA’s stated no observable effect level (NOEL) of 2.0 mg/kg/day. Synthetic pyrethroids are used [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 17, 2008) In a new study published in Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers have found an increased occurrence of intersex toads in areas with greater agricultural land cover. This points to a link between certain pesticides and endocrine disruption, a change in the hormonal balance that can have sexual and reproductive effects. Such [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 30, 2008) A recent study has linked the common herbicide atrazine with endocrine disruption in both fish and human cells. Entitled “The Herbicide Atrazine Activates Endocrine Gene Networks via Non-Steroidal NR5A Nuclear Receptors in Fish and Mammalian Cells,” the University of Califonia, San Francisco (UCSF) research examines the reaction of zebrafish to [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 8, 2008) New research shows that melting Antarctic glaciers are releasing once frozen stores of persistent organic chemicals, now banned in many parts of the world. Marine biologist, Heidi Geisz, a Ph.D. student at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science studying the fate and effect of organic contaminants in the Antarctic, has [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 10, 2008) Common frogs that live in suburban areas are more likely than their rural counterparts to develop reproductive abnormalities, according to David Skelly, PhD, professor of ecology at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. This phenomenon becomes a serious concern as the frog’s mating season begins, leaving researchers to [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 19, 2008) Common household chemicals and widespread pollutants are changing male reproductive health and impacting sexual function, development and cancer rates of today’s generations and possibly their offspring, according to more than 15 years of research by a Colorado State University expert. For example, one study looking at sperm counts globally from [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 9, 2008) Triclocarban, an antibacterial compound widely used as an additive to a range of household and personal care products including bar soaps, detergents, body washes, cleansing lotions, and wipes, has been found to have an amplification effect on the activity of natural hormones, which in turn can lead to adverse reproductive [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, December 11, 2007) Arturo Rodriguez (UFW President), Devra Davis, Ph.D. (author and University of Pittsburgh professor of epidemiology) and Tyrone Hayes, Ph.D. (UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology) will be speaking at the 2008 National Pesticide Forum. The conference, Reclaiming Our Healthy Future: Political change to protect the next generation, will be held [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, October 18, 2007) In a scholarly review written by Theo Colborn, Ph.D. and Lynn Carroll, Ph.D., the authors point to the multigenerational effects of some pesticides that they say demand improved regulation to protect human and environmental health. The review, “Pesticides, Sexual Development, Reproduction, and Fertility: Current Perspective and Future Direction,” appears in [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 24, 2007) Seven representatives wrote to the EPA last Thursday, urging the government agency to act promptly to identify and screen products for dangerous endocrine-disrupting chemicals. The letter asks EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to provide definite deadlines in the testing and control of endocrine disruptors, which are substances that interfere with the [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 12, 2007) More than 10 years after being directed to do so by Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that it will test 73 pesticides for their potential to damage the endocrine system and disrupt the normal functioning of hormones in the body, the agency announced in a press release [...]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 12, 2007) A new study has found the proportion of boys born over the past three decades has unexpectedly dropped in both the United States and Japan. In all, more than a quarter of a million boys are missing, compared to what would have been expected had the sex ratio existing in [...]