title: Why endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) challenge traditional risk assessment and how to respond.
abstract: Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) are a diverse group of "chemicals of emerging concern" which have attracted much interest from the research community since the 1990s. Today there is still no definitive risk assessment tool for EDCs. While some decision making organizations have attempted to design methodology guidelines to evaluate the potential risk from this broadly defined group of constituents, risk assessors still face many uncertainties and unknowns. Until a risk assessment paradigm is designed specifically for EDCs and is vetted by the field, traditional risk assessment tools may be used with caution to evaluate EDCs. In doing so, each issue of contention should be addressed with transparency in order to leverage available information and technology without sacrificing integrity or accuracy. The challenges that EDCs pose to traditional risk assessment are described in this article to assist in this process.
authors: Institute for Dryland, Environmental and Desert Research, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer 84990, Israel. Electronic address: Vivian.futran@gmail.com.
authors: Vivian
authors: V
authors: Futran Fuhrman
authors: Institute for Dryland, Environmental and Desert Research, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer 84990, Israel. Electronic address: alontal@bgu.ac.il.
authors: Alon
authors: A
authors: Tal
authors: Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer 84990, Israel. Electronic address: sarnon@bgu.ac.il.
authors: Shai
authors: S
authors: Arnon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors / Q000633:toxicity*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D018570:Risk Assessment
chemical_list: D052244:Endocrine Disruptors; D004785:Environmental Pollutants
keywords: Endocrine disrupting chemical; Hormonally active agent; Human health; Microcontaminant; Risk assessment