Question

Reflect on your personal experiences and environment. List 3 ways in which you may have been exposed to common endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC). Can you imagine changes to either your personal habits and/or community policies that could help protect you and others from continued EDC exposure? Propose your changes here

Answer 1

Endocrine disrupting chemicals are mostly man-made found in various materials. By interfering with the body's endocrine system, endocrine disruptors produce adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects in humans, abnormal growth patterns and neurodevelopmental delays in children.

An endocrine disruptor may mimic or partly mimic natural hormones in the body like estrogens or androgens and thyroid hormones. It may block the interaction of natural hormones with their receptor by altering their metabolism. It may also bind to a receptor within a cell and block the  hormones from binding the receptor.

People come in contact with EDCs by variety of routes including consumption of food and water, through the skin, by inhalation and by transfer from mother to foetus ( through placenta)or mother to infant (lactation) if women have ECDs in her body.

The 3 main ways to encounter EDCs are

Exposure to ECDs	ECDs source	ECD Example
1. Oral comsumption of contaminated food and water	leaching of chemicals to food and bevarages from containers, pesticide residues in food and bevarages	BPA, DDT, pthalates
2. Application to skin	some cosmetics , personal care products	pthalates, Parabens
3. Inhalation	pesticides used in homes or public disease vector control.	DDTs, chlorpyrifos, pyrethroids

The non-stick coating on much of the commercially available cookware in the market contains perfluorinated chemicals that act as endocrine disruptors when they enter the body. Consider a cast iron pan instead- when properly seasoned, a cast iron pan can offer a slick, non-stick surface. Instead of using plastic to store food and beverages, consider glass, high-quality food-grade silicone stainless steel, or beeswax wraps made from fabric and a special beeswax/resin mixture.  

Parabens are an endocrine disrupting substance that is found in shampoos, perfumes, lotion, deodorant and many other products. So practice use of parabens and silicon free skin products.

Tap water can be laced with arsenic and perchlorate, among other hormone-disrupting substances. So use of high quality water filter is reccommended. Try to minimize the use of DDT in homes and artificial room freshners which contain ECDS.