Endocrine Disruptors: How we Lost Track of Scientific Focus by Rainer von Mielecki

27 October 2016 Hormones were discovered about 100 years ago and scientists have been looking at their impact on living species ever since. More recently, such investigation has expanded to chemical substances that impact the endocrine system, such as birth control pills and even crop protection products. However, it has …

Shift Happens but it’s not Always Good Science by Christopher J. Borgert

Scientific revolutions may be on the horizon, but most of this shift isn’t credible science or a step forward, argues Christopher J. Borgert in Parliament magazine’s blog on Oct. 10. Have you ever wondered why some scientists self-identify as revolutionaries? In his 1962 book, “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,” physicist …

Epidemiologists Need to be More Like Michael Phelps Than Mark Spitz by Carol J. Burns

1 September 2016 I was glued to my television this August watching the Rio Olympics.  Beyond the medal counts, I enjoyed the personal vignettes about the athletes.  Equally compelling to me were stories about the contribution of science to sports.  I was amazed that experts in physics and computer science …

Low-Dose Effects and Non-Monotonic Dose-Responses in Regulatory Science by Daland R. Juberg and Sue Marty

28 July 2016 In recent years, there has been significant discussion around low-dose effects (LDEs) and non-monotonic dose-response (NMDR) curves, particularly relative to endocrine disruption. For example, there are claims that crop protection products are associated with LDEs and NMDRs, which question whether current human exposure limits are adequate. These …

Disrupted: The Endocrine Disruptor Debate by Christopher Borgert

7 June 2016 The debate on endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the EU is more political than scientific, says toxicologist Christopher Borgert in an editorial published by EurActiv.com on 1 June 2016. A decision to ignore the question of potency would cause needless disruption to regulators, industries and consumers. In May …

Endocrine Disruptors: Science Should Underpin, not Undermine, EU Decisions by Jean-Charles Bocquet

2 May 2016 The crop protection industry is firmly founded on science and innovation; this allows us to make significant contributions not just to the European economy, but also to solving some of the biggest challenges facing society today, such as food security. Unfortunately, this contribution is often not fully …

Sound Science Must Drive Public Discussion on Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals by Howard Minigh

12 April 2016 With ongoing public discussion of endocrine disruptors (EDs), questions are being raised about the state of the science on key issues and testing of chemicals for the assessment of potential endocrine-disrupting effects. Crop protection products are among the chemicals evaluated for such effects. In fact, crop protection …