Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals
WWF Position Statement – January 2000
WWF’s mission is to conserve nature and ecological processes, and to address this in a way which
benefits human needs and livelihoods. Recognizing that controlling pollution is essential to conserving
biological diversity and protecting human health, one of WWF’s goals is to phase out and ban chemicals
that threaten life on earth, while working to identify and implement acceptable, effective, and affordable
alternatives. This includes alternative methods for producing commercial goods, and less toxic and
nonchemical approaches for managing agricultural pests.
Decisions on chemical contaminants must be premised on the precautionary principle—the idea that we
must take protective actions well in advance of definitive, cause-and-effect scientific proof of danger.
Frequently this will require evaluating data from many disciplines and numerous research settings and
acting on the basis of the cumulative weight of the evidence.
During the last decade, scientists have recognized a newly defined kind of hazard from chemicals—
endocrine disruption. Endocrine disrupting chemicals interfere with the activity of hormones within the
body. Many manufactured chemicals mimic natural hormones and send false messages. Other synthetic
compounds block the messages and prevent true messages from getting through. Some cause disruption
by preventing the synthesis of the body’s own hormones or by accelerating their breakdown and
excretion. Whatever the mechanism, the bottom line is the same: Any chemical that interferes directly or
indirectly with hormones can scramble vital messages, derail development, and undermine health.
Hormone disrupting contaminants may be hazardous at extremely low doses and pose a greater danger to
the developing foetus in the womb. During prenatal life, endocrine disruptors may alter development of
the body, including the brain, and undermine the ability to learn, to fight off disease, and to reproduce.
Wildlife and toxicology studies provide solid evidence that certain synthetic chemicals have contributed
to dwindling wildlife populations by disrupting hormone activity, altering sexual development, impairing
reproduction, and undermining the immune system. Taken as a whole, the broad body of evidence also
indicates that people are also at risk.
Endocrine disrupting chemicals are threatening many species:
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Whales in the world’s oceans carry PCBs and other contaminants at concentrations which cause
development defects in humans;
Marine gastropods (whelks and periwinkle) suffer sex determination defects due to tributyltin
leaching from antifouling paints on ships’ hulls. Bivalves such as mussels suffer from malformations
and growth anomalies. The effects on female dog whelk are striking, as they become masculinised
and grow penises;
Bald eagles in contaminated industrialized regions continue to have difficulty reproducing;
Albatrosses nesting on remote Midway Island in the Northern Pacific are carrying levels of PCBs,
DDT, dioxins, and furans that have been shown to be hazardous to bird species in the industrialized
Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada;
Male fish in rivers throughout the United Kingdom are experiencing feminization at levels of
contamination commonly found in the U.K. environment;
Alligators in Florida’s lakes suffer from reproductive problems that appear to be associated with
chronic chemical contamination; and
The endangered Florida panther suffers from undescended testicles and other health problems to that
may be due to endocrine disrupting chemicals.
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Although the investigation of human health effects has just begun, researchers have already found
immune system changes, neurological and motor delays, and learning problems in children associated
with exposure in the womb to background levels of PCBs. Indeed, World Health Organization experts
have recognized that “subtle effects may already occur in the general population in developed countries at
current background levels of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs.” Epidemiological studies are documenting
disturbing trends showing that people are increasingly suffering from health problems similar to those
observed in wildlife and laboratory studies of animals exposed to synthetic EDCs.
Coming to grips with threats from endocrine disrupting chemicals will require a shift to different ways of
making judgments about environmental contaminants and a new standard for taking action. There is little
chance of showing a cause-and-effect link between EDCs and clinical diseases and/or functional
impairments in humans. To protect public health in the real world—where people and wildlife are
exposed to complex mixtures of chemicals and where the consequences may not surface until decades
later—we need to assess research results based on “the weight of the evidence.” This approach relies on
accumulating evidence and common sense inferences rather than on scientific ideals of proof that are
more appropriate for controlled laboratory experiments. For example, the conclusion that smoking
cigarettes causes lung cancer was drawn based on the weight of evidence long before the link and
mechanism were conclusively demonstrated.
The stakes in the endocrine disruption problem are high. If the hazards are as great as some research
indicates, delaying control and elimination of EDCs means condemning future generations of wildlife and
people to irreversible harm. Even though scientific uncertainties remain about the hazards posed by
EDCs, there is more than enough known to act now.
WWF seeks:
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national, multi-national, and international action to control and, where necessary, ban, the use of
EDCs which are already known to have harmful effects;
increased use of the “precautionary principle” in public decision making, recognizing that actions
should be taken to prevent harm from chemicals even when definitive scientific information on causeeffect relationships is incomplete;
development and implementation of screens and tests to evaluate chemicals for endocrine disrupting
activity;
increased public and private sector investment in research on endocrine disrupting chemicals;
legislative mechanisms which lead to the substitution of potentially hazardous substances with less
hazardous or preferably non-hazardous substances or processes, without waiting for definitive proof
of harmful effects; and
proactive efforts by manufacturers and users of endocrine disrupting substances to phase out their use.
WWF will:
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promote amendment of national and international laws and policies to officially recognize the threat
of endocrine disruption from individual chemicals and mixtures of chemicals;
strategically engage producers and users of EDCs to achieve phase-outs, by urging precautionary
action that relies on less-toxic alternative approaches;
encourage the development of new screens and tests for endocrine disruption;
advocate incorporation of the “precautionary principle” in public decision making on chemicals;
work towards increased research on EDCs and promote creation of an innovative public-private
partnership to oversee scientific research that is untainted by its funding sources; and
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synthesize emerging scientific findings from pertinent disciplines to raise public awareness of new
developments and identify areas for additional research investments.
WWF’s initiatives on endocrine disrupting chemicals have taken many forms. WWF was successful at
the International Maritime Organization in promoting a phaseout of tributyltin. WWF-Canada has pushed
for phase-outs of alkylphenol ethoxylates. WWF-Canada and WWF-US have worked with fruit and
vegetable growers to reduce use of pesticides. WWF-Germany has worked to phase out triazine
herbicides in Germany. In Europe, WWF has played a leading role in securing a European Parliament
resolution on endocrine disrupting chemicals, and is actively lobbying for improvements to European
chemicals legislation. WWF in Europe also has played a lead role in promoting work on endocrine
disruptors within the OSPARCOM framework for protection of the North Sea. WWF-US has made major
contributions to design and implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s program for
screening and testing endocrine disrupting chemicals, in addition to producing numerous scientific reports
on endocrine disrupting chemicals. WWF-UK has published numerous analyses of chemical hazards,
including “Chemical Trespass: A Toxic Legacy,” which highlights chemical contamination of human
breast milk.
More detailed information on endocrine disrupting chemicals is available on the websites of WWF-US
(www.worldwildlife.org/toxics), WWF-Canada (www.wwfcanada.org,), WWF-UK (www.wwf-uk.org),
WWF-Germany (www.wwf.de), and WWF Northeast Atlantic Program (www.ngo.grida.no/wwfneap).
See. e.g., the issue brief, “Chemicals that Compromise Life: A Call to Action,” (Sept. 1998) that is
available on the WWFUS website.
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