Endocrine Disrupting Substances and Ecological Risk Assessment of Commercial Chemicals in Canada

The ecological risk assessment of commercial chemicals in Canada by the regulatory programs of the Commercial Chemicals Evaluation Branch, Environment Canada, are based on results from traditional toxicity data (e.g., lethality, effects to growth or reproduction). Some of the chemicals under consideration are known to alter endocrine systems in exposed organisms; however, effects to the endocrine system are used only as additional supporting information. Presently, there are no internationally accepted methodologies or tests for endocrine disrupting substances that can be used by these regulatory programs. The need for research with respect to hormone disrupting substances has been recognized in the revised Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA 1999). This paper describes the framework for the ecological risk assessment of new and existing substances and identifies issues and research needs in both screening level and in-depth ecological risk assessments with respect to the identification and assessment of potentially endocrine disrupting substances.