A group of scientists calls for maintaining chemical regulation’s status quo; toxicologist and pharmacologist express concern that the forthcoming EDC regulation (Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals) will not be based on science and erase established risk assessment approaches. In an open letter to the Chief Scientific Advisor to the European Commission, Anne Glover, toxicologists and pharmacologists describe the European Commission’s (EC’s) recommendation on endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) regulation as scientifically unfounded and over-precautionary. In a letter published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Food and Chemical Toxicology in July, the signatories emphasize that the European Commission’s current EDC regulation plans defy longstanding scientific and regulatory practice. They criticize in particular the potential adoption of an EDC policy, which considers it impossible to set safe limits for EDCs. Further, the supported use of in vitro tests lacks a causal relationship to adversity for identifying EDCs, as the authors argue. They point out that endocrine disruption “is not a toxicologically defined endpoint but a mode-of-action that may or may not result in adverse effects”. The letter’s signatories include scientists from a variety of European universities and public health institutions, as well as members of scientific advisory committees to the European Commission.
