Endocrine Disruption

TEDX List of Potential Endocrine Disruptors

How and why we created the tedx list

As early as 1988, before the term ‘endocrine disruption’ was used, Dr. Colborn began collecting scientific literature on chemicals that could interfere with function, development and reproduction, particularly on chemicals that had effects at ambient concentrations in wildlife. Today, TEDX’s collection of endocrine disruption literature has grown to over 43,000 documents, including thousands of scientific studies that demonstrate impairment of the endocrine system.

As individuals, governments, and non-profit organizations have increasingly begun to pay attention to endocrine disruption, TEDX has received numerous requests for a list of potential endocrine disruptors. As a starting point in developing the TEDX List we drew from two other comprehensive lists1 as well as additional original research contained in our in-house literature database. We soon discovered that many documents cited in the other lists were secondary references (for example, review articles or other lists of chemicals), studies that were unpublished or virtually unavailable, or the citations were erroneous.

In the TEDX List, every citation refers to a primary research study that we acquired and read. Several years went into the process of verifying citations and acquiring publications we did not already have. The number of citations presented in the TEDX List does not necessarily reflect the amount of research that has been done on each chemical, and for practical reasons was limited to a maximum of five citations per chemical. To address the problem of chemicals with numerous synonyms, the TEDX List includes unique CAS2 numbers (wherever possible), commonly used alternative names, and consistent nomenclature for chemical classes with multiple congeners.

1 IEH. 2005. Chemicals purported to be endocrine disrupters. A compilation of published lists. Leicester, UK: MRC Institute for Environment and Health. (Web Report W20). Accessible at: http://www.silsoe.cranfield.ac.uk/ieh/pdf/w20.pdf

BKH Consulting Engineers, TNO Nutrition and Food Research. 2000. Towards the establishment of a priority list of substances for further evaluation of their role in endocrine disruption. Final Report (incorporating corrigenda to final report dated 21 June 2000).: European Commission DG ENV. M0355008/1786Q/10/11/00. Accessible at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/endocrine/strategy/substances_en.htm#report3

2 The American Chemical Society has established the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) number system to identify unique chemical substances. A single substance can have many different names, but only one CAS number.



		Endocrine Disruption TEDX List of Potential Endocrine Disruptors TEDX List of Potential Endocrine Disruptors Overview How and why we created the TEDX List How and why we created the tedx list As early as 1988, before the term ‘endocrine disruption’ was used, Dr. Colborn began collecting scientific literature on chemicals that could interfere with function, development and reproduction, particularly on chemicals that had effects at ambient concentrations in wildlife. Today, TEDX’s collection of endocrine disruption literature has grown to over 43,000 documents, including thousands of scientific studies that demonstrate impairment of the endocrine system. As individuals, governments, and non-profit organizations have increasingly begun to pay attention to endocrine disruption, TEDX has received numerous requests for a list of potential endocrine disruptors. As a starting point in developing the TEDX List we drew from two other comprehensive lists1 as well as additional original research contained in our in-house literature database. We soon discovered that many documents cited in the other lists were secondary references (for example, review articles or other lists of chemicals), studies that were unpublished or virtually unavailable, or the citations were erroneous. In the TEDX List, every citation refers to a primary research study that we acquired and read. Several years went into the process of verifying citations and acquiring publications we did not already have. The number of citations presented in the TEDX List does not necessarily reflect the amount of research that has been done on each chemical, and for practical reasons was limited to a maximum of five citations per chemical. To address the problem of chemicals with numerous synonyms, the TEDX List includes unique CAS2 numbers (wherever possible), commonly used alternative names, and consistent nomenclature for chemical classes with multiple congeners. 1 IEH. 2005. Chemicals purported to be endocrine disrupters. A compilation of published lists. Leicester, UK: MRC Institute for Environment and Health. (Web Report W20). Accessible at: http://www.silsoe.cranfield.ac.uk/ieh/pdf/w20.pdf BKH Consulting Engineers, TNO Nutrition and Food Research. 2000. Towards the establishment of a priority list of substances for further evaluation of their role in endocrine disruption. Final Report (incorporating corrigenda to final report dated 21 June 2000).: European Commission DG ENV. M0355008/1786Q/10/11/00. Accessible at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/endocrine/strategy/substances_en.htm#report3 2 The American Chemical Society has established the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) number system to identify unique chemical substances. A single substance can have many different names, but only one CAS number.