EFSA Issues Criteria for Identifying Endocrine Disruptors

The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA’s) Scientific Committee has
issued an opinion “that clarifies the scientific criteria for identifying an
endocrine disruptor.” Requested by the European Commission, the opinion
addresses “the testing and assessment of endocrine active substances (EASs)
and endocrine disruptors (EDs)” by adopting the World Health Organization’s
definition for EDs, which must meet the following three criteria: “the presence
of (i) an adverse effect in an intact organism or a (sub)population; (ii) an
endocrine activity; and (iii) a plausible causal relationship between the two.”

The opinion also identifies “a reasonably complete suite of standardized assays for testing the effects of EASs [that] is (or will soon be) available for the oestrogenic, androgenic, thyroid and steroidogenic modalities in mammals and fish” known to be sensitive to endocrine disruption. The Scientific Committee has stressed, however, that not all EASs are EDs, ultimately advocating “a risk assessment approach” that evaluates substances on a case-by-case basis and takes into account “potential adverse effects of endocrine active substances together with the likelihood of exposure.”

“This was an important part of our work and it contributes to EU and international discussions in this area. We concluded that current tests generally are adequate for mammals, fish and to a lesser extent also for birds and amphibians and cover four important endocrine pathways,” said EFSA Scientific Chair Tony Hardy in a March 20, 2013, press release. “However, no single test is sufficient to decide whether a substance is an endocrine disruptor and several tests need to be done and then assessed together by experts in a weight-of-evidence approach.”