EPA unveils hormone-pollutant strategy.

Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency published its blueprint for assaying the potential of pollutants to mimic or block the effects of natural hormones. Prepared by an outside panel of experts known as the Endocrine Disruptor Screening and Testing Advisory Committee (EDSTAC), the two-volume opus outlines how EPA should choose which of the roughly 87,000 commercial chemicals to test--and how it should test them.

A pair of 1996 laws ordered the agency to establish a new endocrine-disrupter testing program (SN: 9/7/96, p. 159). Though the legislation instructed EPA to screen pesticides and drinking-water contaminants, EDSTAC recommended that the agency do more: screen all industrial chemicals. Similarly, although the laws require only that EPA assay agents posing risks to human health, EDSTAC argued that the agency should also evaluate potential hormonal hazards to wildlife.

Although not officially bound to adopt such extensions of its obligations, EPA has "more or less already accepted" the call to do so anyway, points out Denise Kearns, an agency spokeswoman. Indeed, she says, "we're probably going to adopt most of the [EDSTAC] recommendations."

Two months ago, EPA unveiled key elements of this plan (SN: 9/5/98, p. 148). The new 573 page report fleshes out many details. For instance, it argues that chainlike molecules, or polymers, with masses above 1,000 daltons "are unlikely to be able to cross biological membranes and barriers." It therefore recommends eliminating 25,000 such compounds from the first round of tests for hormonal effects. Because "it is not likely to be possible" to screen all of the remaining 62,000 chemicals, EDSTAC advised EPA to prioritize them for testing on the basis of their pervasiveness or their potential for high exposure in identifiable populations or ecosystems.

Arguing that pollutant combos deserve "special attention," EDSTAC recommended that EPA screen mixes of pollutants representative of six common groups: breast-milk contaminants; plant-derived, estrogenlike compounds that occur in soy-based infant formulas; chemicals commonly found at hazardouswaste sites; combinations of pesticides and fertilizers; disinfection byproducts; and gasoline. The advisory committee also recommended priority testing for another class of chemicals posing "special concern," the plant- and fungi-derived estrogenic compounds found in many foods (10/11/97, p. 230).