title: Manufacturing doubt about endocrine disrupter science--A rebuttal of industry-sponsored critical comments on the UNEP/WHO report "State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals 2012".
abstract: We present a detailed response to the critique of "State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals 2012" (UNEP/WHO, 2013) by financial stakeholders, authored by Lamb et al. (2014). Lamb et al.'s claim that UNEP/WHO (2013) does not provide a balanced perspective on endocrine disruption is based on incomplete and misleading quoting of the report through omission of qualifying statements and inaccurate description of study objectives, results and conclusions. Lamb et al. define extremely narrow standards for synthesizing evidence which are then used to dismiss the UNEP/WHO 2013 report as flawed. We show that Lamb et al. misuse conceptual frameworks for assessing causality, especially the Bradford-Hill criteria, by ignoring the fundamental problems that exist with inferring causality from empirical observations. We conclude that Lamb et al.'s attempt of deconstructing the UNEP/WHO (2013) report is not particularly erudite and that their critique is not intended to be convincing to the scientific community, but to confuse the scientific data. Consequently, it promotes misinterpretation of the UNEP/WHO (2013) report by non-specialists, bureaucrats, politicians and other decision makers not intimately familiar with the topic of endocrine disruption and therefore susceptible to false generalizations of bias and subjectivity.
authors.affiliation: Swedish Toxicology Sciences Research Center (Swetox), Södertälje, Sweden. Electronic address: ake.bergman@swetox.se.
authors.forename: Åke
authors.initials: Å
authors.lastname: Bergman
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Becher
authors.affiliation: University of California, Irvine, USA.
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Blumberg
authors.affiliation: University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
authors.forename: Poul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bjerregaard
authors.affiliation: School of Health Systems and Public Health, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: Riana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bornman
authors.affiliation: Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ingvar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Brandt
authors.affiliation: University of California, Irvine, USA.
authors.forename: Stephanie C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Casey
authors.affiliation: Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Center, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: Heloise
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Frouin
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Francisco, USA.
authors.forename: Linda C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Giudice
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, USA.
authors.forename: Jerrold J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Heindel
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki, Japan.
authors.forename: Taisen
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iguchi
authors.affiliation: Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UK.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jobling
authors.affiliation: University of New Brunswick, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
authors.forename: Karen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Kidd
authors.affiliation: Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UK.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kortenkamp
authors.affiliation: Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: P Monica
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Lind
authors.affiliation: Environment Canada, Burlington, Canada.
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Muir
authors.affiliation: Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Roseline
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ochieng
authors.affiliation: Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ropstad
authors.affiliation: Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Center, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: Peter S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.affiliation: Copenhagen University Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Niels Erik
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Skakkebaek
authors.affiliation: University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Jorma
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Toppari
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, USA.
authors.forename: Laura N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Vandenberg
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Francisco, USA.
authors.forename: Tracey J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Woodruff
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, USA.
authors.forename: R Thomas
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Zoeller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D052244:Endocrine Disruptors
keywords: EDCs; Endocrine disruption; Endocrine disruptors