The Endocrine Disruptor Exchange: Exploring Environmental Chemicals

Endocrine disrupting chemicals are chemicals that interfere with normal hormone action. For example, they can mimic or block hormones, and/or affect their production, their movement throughout the body, or their metabolism.

Hormones are chemicals such as insulin, thyroxin (thyroid hormone), estrogen, and testosterone. There are upwards of 50 different known hormones in the human body. Hormones send messages through the body by traveling to receptors in and on different cells, resulting in biological actions, such as ovulation or changes in blood sugar. The endocrine system is so finely tuned that it depends upon changes in hormone concentrations comparable to one drop in 20 Olympic swimming pools.

The endocrine system is the body’s exquisitely balanced system of glands, organs, and hormones that regulates such vital functions as body growth, response to stress, sexual development, production of insulin and utilization of glucose, metabolism, neurodevelopment, intelligence, behavior, sleep patterns, blood pressure, and the ability to reproduce.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals have been implicated in numerous adverse health outcomes, including those of the endocrine, reproductive, neurological, and metabolic systems. Examples include infertility, endometriosis, early puberty, breast and prostate cancer, thyroid disorders, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, obesity, diabetes, asthma, immune disorders, and more.

Effects can occur from a very small amount of a chemical, and these ‘low dose effects’ can be different than the effects of higher doses. This makes the outcomes difficult to predict. Further, health effects may not show up until many years after exposure occurred, making it hard to connect cause and effect. We may even inherit susceptibilities from chemicals to which our parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents were exposed.

Endocrine disruptors are in our everyday products: from the personal care products and cosmetics we apply, to the chemicals we use to clean our homes, to the materials our homes, schools, and offices are built from. Most synthetic endocrine disrupting chemicals are derived from chemicals associated with fossil fuel extraction, processing, and/or burning. These include chemicals used as food additives, pesticides, plastics, dyes and more. Others are naturally occurring, such as phytoestrogens produced by plants.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals can be found in common products like canned food, perfume, plastic food containers, cosmetics, and furniture. They get into our bodies through food, water and dust, directly through our skin, from hand to mouth contact, and from the air we breathe.

Scientists and doctors can detect endocrine disrupting chemicals in blood, urine, stool, saliva, tears, perspiration, placental tissue, umbilical cord blood and the meconium of newborn babies. Endocrine disruptors have been found in every person tested, across world populations. Some endocrine disruptors remain in the body for years and others are excreted relatively quickly.

The age at which a person is exposed to endocrine disruptors is a primary factor in the level of risk. Exposure can be particularly harmful during times when the body undergoes a great deal of change, including during prenatal and early postnatal development, puberty, pregnancy, and menopause/andropause.

Further, infants and children are more susceptible to exposure because they spend more time closer to the ground where chemicals settle, have more hand to mouth behavior than adults, have greater food and water intake per unit of body weight, and their immune and metabolic systems are immature so they don’t process chemicals as well as adults. Exposure risk is also elevated in lower income areas, among minority populations, and in areas with fewer resources to reduce exposure.

Many chemicals associated with oil and gas operations are endocrine disruptors. This includes chemicals used to facilitate oil and gas extraction, and those released from deep within the earth during the process. Chemicals retrieved from underground rock formations are valuable feedstock chemicals that are refined and synthesized into thousands of other chemicals used in industrial and consumer products, many of which are also endocrine disruptors.

TEDX was one of the first organizations to recognize the potential health impacts of exposure to chemicals associated with hydraulic fracturing, a relatively new process of extracting oil and gas that has spread rapidly across the US and the world. Since then we created many tools to share the latest science on the health effects associated with unconventional oil and gas production. They include a database of published research, spreadsheets of the potential health effects of drilling, fracking, and wastewater chemicals, recorded videos, webinars, and calls with leading scientists, and our own published peer-reviewed scientific papers. In 2019, we summarized the scientific evidence in a petition to the United Nations in support of a global ban on fracking. We also created a detailed summary of evidence from Colorado, TEDX’s home state.

Wells are drilled down thousands of vertical feet into oil and gas bearing formations. Drilling “muds” containing weighting agents, emulsifiers, and lubricants are used to help move the drill bit down the well bore. Surface casing using steel pipes and cement is then inserted to help prevent the movement of fluids and gases into groundwater. After the vertical hole is drilled, the drill bore can be extended horizontally for over a mile in multiple directions.

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is the process of injecting liquid at high pressure to open up tight rock formations to release oil and gas. After a borehole is drilled, small explosions are set off along the wellbore to punch holes in the well casing. Millions of gallons of water mixed with proppants (usually silica sand) and chemicals are injected under high pressure using diesel-powered heavy equipment. Pressure forces the rock to fracture and then the proppant holds the fractures open so that the gas or oil can be collected. Chemical products used for fracking include biocides, solvents, corrosion and scale inhibitors, friction reducers, and surfactants.

Two types of wastewater from oil and gas operations are “flowback” and “produced water”. Flowback is fluid that resurfaces in the first few weeks after fracking, typically 30%-70% of the total injected fluids. Produced water is a mixture of water and chemicals that surfaces from underground, sometimes for the life of the well. Heater-treaters on the pad are used to separate the water from the gas and heavier liquid hydrocarbons including oil and condensates. Flowback and produced water can be stored in pits or tanks on the pad, or trucked or piped off-site. They are then injected into deep injection wells, pumped into large evaporation ponds, recycled for reuse in fracking operations or for ‘beneficial’ reuse such as irrigation or livestock watering.

Air pollution has two primary sources: volatile chemicals pumped into the ground during drilling and hydraulic fracturing, and raw gas released from underground, which contains toxic air pollutants. Wells may be directly vented or flared (burned) for several days, weeks or even months, until connected to a pipeline. Pollutants also escape from equipment and storage tanks on well pads, and from off-site transmission pipelines and compressor stations. Diesel exhaust from running large equipment on the pad and the hundreds of truck trips needed to develop and maintain a well site also contribute volatile organic compounds as well as fine particulate matter to the air.

Groundwater can be contaminated by gas migrating from faulty well casing and cementing. Contamination of shallow aquifers and surface water has been linked to spills and leaks of fracking fluids and wastewater on the well pad. Further, improper treatment and disposal of wastewater can contaminate streams and rivers.

TEDX published scientific reviews, commentaries, and original research. Many of their publications were conducted in collaboration with other scientists. They used their expertise to answer important research questions and support informed decision making. Their work was used by government and non-government organizations to protect health by reducing harmful chemicals in our indoor and outdoor environments, and the womb.

A scoping review of the health and toxicological activity of bisphenol A (BPA) structural analogues and functional alternatives

Pelch K, Wignall JA, Goldstone AE, Ross PK, Blain RB, Shapiro AJ, Holmgren SD, Hsieh JH, Svodboda D, Auerbach SS, Parham FM, Masten SA, Walker V, Rooney A, Thayer KA. 2019.

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Characterization of estrogenic and androgenic activities for bisphenol A-like chemicals (BPs): In vitro estrogen and androgen receptors transcriptional activation, gene regulation, and binding profiles

Pelch KE, Li Y, Perera L, Thayer KA, Korach KS. 2019.

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PFAS health effects database: protocol for a systematic evidence map

Pelch KE, Reade A, Wolffe TAM, Kwiatkowski CF. 2019.

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Environmental chemicals and autism: a scoping review of the human and animal research

Pelch KE, Bolden AL, Kwiatkowski CF. 2019.

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Protocol for a systematic map of the evidence of migrating and extractable chemicals from food contact articles

Martin OV, Geueke B, Groh KJ, Chevrier J, Fini JB, Houlihan J, Kassotis C, Myers P, Nagel SC, Pelch KE, Sargis RM, Trasande L, Vandenberg LN, Wagner M, Maffini MV, Muncke J. 2018.

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Exploring the endocrine activity of air pollutants associated with unconventional oil and gas extraction

Bolden AL, Schultz K, Pelch KE, Kwiatkowski CF. 2018.

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Prenatal exposure to bisphenol A and hyperactivity in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Rochester JR, Bolden AB, Kwiatkowski CF. 2018.

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Is it time to reassess current safety standards for glyphosate-based herbicides?

Vandenberg LN, Blumberg B, Antoniou MN, Benbrook CM, Carroll L, Colborn T, Everett LG, Hansen M, Landrigan PJ, Lanphear BP, Mesnage R, Vom Saal FS, Welshons WV, Myers JP. 2017.

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Potential developmental and reproductive impacts of triclocarban: A scoping review

Rochester JR, Bolden AL, Pelch KE, Kwiatkowski CF. 2017.

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Melamine, beyond the kidney: A ubiquitous endocrine disruptor and neurotoxicant?

Bolden AL, Rochester JR, Kwiatkowski CF. 2017.

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Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and female reproductive health: A scoping review

Bolden AL, Rochester JR, Schultz K, Kwiatkowski CF. 2017.

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The Age of Chemicals in the 21st Century: New Inventions, New Problems

Kwiatkowski, CF. 2017.

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Twenty-Five Years of Endocrine Disruption Science: Remembering Theo Colborn

Kwiatkowski CF, Bolden AL, Liroff RA, Rochester JR, Vandenbergh JG. 2016.

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Minireview: Endocrine Disruptors: Past Lessons and Future Directions

Schug TT, Johnson AF, Birnbaum LS, Colborn T, Guillette LJ, Crews DP, Collins T, Soto AM, vom Saal FS, McLachlan JA, Sonnenschein C, Heindel JJ. 2016.

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Project TENDR: Targeting Environmental Neuro-Developmental Risks. The TENDR Consensus Statement

Bennett D, Bellinger DC, Birnbaum LS, Bradman A, Chen A, Cory-Slechta DA, Engel SM, Fallin MD, Halladay A, Hauser R, Hertz-Picciotto I, Kwiatkowski CF, Lanphear BP, Marquez E, Marty M, McPartland J, Newschaffer CJ, Payne-Sturges D, Patisaul HB, Perera FP, Ritz B, Sass J, Schantz SL, Webster TF, Whyatt RM, Woodruff TJ, Zoeller RT, Anderko L, Campbell C, Conry JA, DeNicola N, Gould RM, Hirtz D, Huffling K, Landrigan PJ, Lavin A, Miller M, Mitchell MA, Rubin L, Schettler T, Tran HL, Acosta A, Brody C, Miller E, Miller P, Swanson M, Witherspoon NO. 2016.

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Concerns Over Use of Glyphosate-based Herbicides and Risks Associated with Exposures: A Consensus Statement

Myers JP, Antoniou MN, Blumberg B, Carroll L, Colborn T, Everett LG, Hansen M, Landrigan PJ, Lanphear BP, Mesnage R, et al. 2016.

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New Look at BTEX: Are Ambient Levels a Problem?

Bolden AL, Kwiatkowski C, Colborn T. 2015.

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Bisphenol S and F: A Systematic Review and Comparison of the Hormonal Activity of Bisphenol A Substitutes

Rochester JR, Bolden AL. 2015.

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Bisphenol A and Human Health: A Review of the Literature

Rochester JR. 2013.

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Regulatory Decisions on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Should Be Based on the Principles of Endocrinology

Vandenberg LN, Colborn T, Hayes TB, Heindel JJ, Jacobs DR Jr, Lee DH, Shioda T, Sota AM, Vom Saal FS, Welshons WV, Zoeller RT. 2013.

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Hormones and Endocrine-disrupting Chemicals: Low-dose Effects and Nonmonotonic Dose Responses

Vandenberg LN, Colborn T, Hayes TB, Heindel JJ, Jacobs DR Jr, Lee DH, Shioda T, Soto AM, Vom Saal FS, Welshons WV, Zoeller RT, Myers JP. 2012.

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Re: Good Laboratory Practices and Safety Assessments. [Response to Becker et al., Environmental Health Perspectives 117(11):A482-483]

Myers JP, vom Saal FS, Akingbemi BT, Arizono K, Belcher S, Colborn T, Chahoud I, Crain DA , Farabollini F, Guillette LJ Jr, Hassold T, Ho SM, Hunt PA, Iguchi T, Jobling S, Kanno J, Laufer H, Marcus M, McLachlan JA, Nadal A, Oehlmann J, Olea N, Palanza P, Parmigiani S, Rubin BS, Schoenfelder G, Sonnenschein C, Soto AM, Talsness CE, Taylor JA, Vandenberg LN, Vandenbergh JG, Vogel S, Watson CS, Welshons WV, Zoeller RT. 2009.

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Why Public Health Agencies Cannot Depend on Good Laboratory Practices as a Criterion for Selecting Data: The Case of Bisphenol A

Myers JP, vom Saal FS, Akingbemi BT, Arizono K, Belcher S, Colborn T, Chahoud I, Crain DA , Farabollini F, Guilleffe LJ, Hassold T, Ho SM, Hunt PA, Iguchi T, Jobling S, Kanno J, Laufer H, Marcus M, Mclachlan JA, Nadal A, Oehlmann J, Olea N, Palanza P, Parmigiani S, Rubin BS, Schoenfelder G, Sonnenschein C, Soto AM, Taisness CE, Taylor JA, Vandenberg LN, Vandenbergh JG, Vogel S, Watson CS, Welshons WV, Zoeller RT. 2009.

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Pesticides, Sexual Development, Reproduction, and Fertility: Current Perspective and Future Direction

Colborn T, Carroll LE. 2007.

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A Case for Revisiting the Safety of Pesticides: A Closer Look at Neurodevelopment

Colborn T. 2006.

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Endocrine Disruption Overview: Are Males at Risk?

Colborn T. 2004.

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Neurodevelopment and Endocrine Disruption

Colborn T. 2004.

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For 16 years TEDX produced and shared scientific evidence of endocrine disruption with key stakeholders, and connected people with the information they needed to create a safer, healthier world. Due to lack of funding, we closed the organization on November 30, 2019. 

We remain forever grateful for the vision and inspiration of our late founder, Dr. Theo Colborn; the commitment and productivity of TEDX’s dedicated staff; the guidance of Executive Director Dr. Carol Kwiatkowski and the Board of Directors; our funders large and small, who made the work possible; and for the many partner organizations that fueled our work with their wisdom and passion. Thank you all!

Watch the recording of TEDX’s final webinar, celebrating 16 years of championing safe environments for healthy hormone functioning. Hear stories about their successes, listen to expert opinions about what’s next for EDCs and fracking chemicals, and learn how to stay connected to the latest resources.