The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will host a meeting on March 20, 2013, in Brussels to discuss the agency’s work in the area of endocrine active substances (EAS) and endocrine disruptors (ED). The EFSA Scientific Committee will present its opinion on “Hazard assessment of endocrine disruptors: scientific criteria for identification of endocrine disruptors and appropriateness of existing testing methods for assessing effects mediated by these substances on human health and the environment,” which was created in response to the European Commission’s September 2012 mandate to define scientific criteria for identifying ED and to review whether existing toxicity methods are appropriate to identify and characterize potential endocrine activity (effect on endocrine system) and/or endocrine disruption (leading to an adverse effect) in humans and the ecosystem.
Tag Archives hormones
A recent study has reportedly claimed that low exposures of a bisphenol A (BPA) alternative known as bisphenol S (BPS) also disrupt estrogen, raising questions about the chemical’s impact on human health. Rene Vinas and Cheryl Watson, “Bisphenol S Disrupts Estradiol Induced Nongenomic Signaling in Rat Pituitary Cell Line: Effects on Cell Functions,” Environmental Health Perspectives, January 2013. University of Texas researchers apparently sought to “characterize the non-genomic activities of BPS” at low doses by examining how it mimics “the effects of physiologic estrogens via membrane-bound estrogen receptors” in rat pituitary cells, “alone and together with the physiologic estrogen estradiol (E2).” The results evidently showed that, like BPA, BPS “disrupts membrane-initiated E2-induced cell signaling, leading to altered cell proliferation, cell death, and PRL [prolactin] release.” According to the study’s authors, BPS has replaced BPA in some thermal papers and plastics because it is “less likely to leach from plastic containers with…
A recent study has reportedly claimed that the first generation of mouse offspring exposed to bisphenol A (BPA) before birth “displayed fewer social interactions as compared with control mice, whereas in later generations… the effect of BPA was to increase these social interactions.” Jennifer Wolstenholme, et al., “Gestational Exposure to Bisphenol A Produces Transgenerational Changes in Behaviors and Gene Expression,” Endocrinology, June 2012. After feeding BPA-laced chow to female mice during mating and pregnancy, researchers evidently noted that the brains of embryos exposed to BPA “had lower gene transcript levels for several estrogen receptors, oxytocin, and vasopressin as compared with controls,” with decreased vasopressin mRNA persisting into the fourth generation, “at which time oxytocin was also reduced but only in males.” According to the authors, their results “demonstrated for the first time… that a common and widespread EDC [endrocine-disrupting chemical] has transgenerational actions on social behavior and neural expression of at…
The U.K.-based Chemicals, Health and Environment Monitoring (CHEM) Trust has issued a March 2012 report claiming that recent studies have linked “hormone disrupting chemicals in food and consumer products” to obesity and Type 2 diabetes in humans. The report apparently analyzes 240 research papers offering epidemiological or laboratory evidence to suggest that certain chemicals—such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates—are obesogenic or diabetogenic. “The chemicals implicated include some to which the general population are typically exposed on a daily basis,” states the report, which also speculates that some “endocrine disrupting chemicals” (EDCs) stored in body fat “may play a role in the causal relationship between obesity and diabetes.” Based on its findings, CHEM Trust argues that obesity prevention strategies like dietary interventions “should not obscure the need for government policies within and outside the health sector” to reduce chemical exposure through the food chain, food containers…
According to news sources, a 25-year-old trade dispute pitting European Union (EU) laws prohibiting the import of beef treated with growth hormones and U.S. and Canadian trade sanctions imposing hundreds of millions of dollars of duties on EU exports of Roquefort cheese, truffles, chocolates, and other comestibles has been resolved. The U.S. and Canadian tariffs reportedly cost EU exporters more than US$250 million annually. In exchange for lifting a 100 percent ad valorem duty against EU products, the EU has agreed to increase quotas on imports of hormone-free beef to 48,200 metric tons under the deal. The agreement will allow the EU to maintain its ban on imports of hormone treated beef. Additional details about the dispute appear in Issues 103, 255, 262, 278, and 289 of this Update. See Law 360 and European Parliament News, March 14, 2012.
According to the Organic Trade Association (OTA), Ohio has decided not to pursue regulations that would prohibit dairy producers from including on their labels statements that organic dairy products are made without antibiotics, pesticides or synthetic hormones. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals determined in September 2010 that those parts of the rule involving hormone-free statements violated the First Amendment and remanded the action to the federal district court for further development of the record as to the rule’s ban on composition claims related to antibiotics and pesticides. More details about the court’s ruling appear in Issue 366 of this Update. The trade group stated, “Ohio has now agreed to abandon the rule rather than trying to revive it, recognizing that the First Amendment allows organic dairy products to proudly state that they are produced in accordance with organic standards without the use of synthetic growth hormones, pesticides, or antibiotics.”…
Asserting that its technical animal drug-regulation amendment is not subject to congressional review, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a final rule that increases the allowable residues of progesterone in edible tissues of cattle and sheep to reflect revised daily consumption values in a 1994 guidance document. According to the Federal Register notice, “Progesterone is approved for use in subcutaneous implants used for increased rate of weight gain in suckling beef calves and steers and in vaginal inserts used for management of the estrous cycle in female cattle and ewes.” The rule took effect on September 19, 2011, when it was published.
A recent study funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reportedly measured internal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) from dietary sources, with results suggesting that the substance is, for the most part, metabolized and excreted by the body. Justin Teeguarden, et al., “Twenty-Four Hour Human Urine and Serum Profiles of Bisphenol A during High-Dietary Exposure,” Toxicological Sciences, September 2011. Scientists with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, and Northwest Pacific National Laboratory apparently profiled the urine and blood serum of 20 healthy adults for 24 hours (24-h) after “high-dietary” BPA exposure via meals enriched with canned foods. “From a safety perspective, the most pressing fundamental question regarding BPA is whether human blood/tissue concentrations of BPA following typical daily exposures are similar to, above, or below blood/tissue concentrations causing demonstrably adverse effects in animal models,” wrote the authors. “The main objective of this study was…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned the company that makes Lazy Larry® brownies containing melatonin that they are adulterated under federal law. According to FDA, “Your ‘Lazy Larry’ product is represented for use as a conventional food, and accordingly is not a dietary supplement.” The company apparently uses the term “dietary supplement” in the product’s “statement of identity” and a “Supplement Facts” panel for its nutrition labeling. FDA contends that these statements do “not make your product a dietary supplement,” because it is marketed alongside snack foods, its website refers to the product as a conventional food, and the appearance and packaging make the product look like a brownie. Noting that the agency “is not aware of data to establish the safety of melatonin for use as an ingredient in conventional foods” and that “reports in the scientific literature have raised safety concerns about the use of melatonin,” FDA…
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “to clarify its authority to regulate foods that contain additives, such as baked goods that contain high doses of melatonin,” after media reports drew attention to so-called “relaxation brownies” touted for allegedly alleviating stress and easing sleep deprivation. In a May 18, 2011, letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, Durbin argues that melatonin-laced sweets “with names such as Lazy Cakes, Kush Cakes and Lulla Pies” could raise health concerns for consumers who “may not recognize they are consuming a neurohormone, that they should consult a doctor before eating it, and that it may not be appropriate for children, people with auto-immune diseases, or women who are pregnant or breast-feeding.” He notes that these products contain “roughly 8 milligrams of melatonin—almost double the upper limit of a typical dose” set by the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, which advises…
