Summary
Pesticides are widely used throughout the world and there is growing concern that some of these chemicals can adversely affect the endocrine system. These endocrine defects have the potential to induce several types of deleterious health effects in man. To date, regulation of new pesticides requires a full battery of animal studies to allow the detection of a great number of potentially adverse health effects, but these studies are not specifically designated to detect endocrine disrupting mechanisms. We briefly present the toxicity studies that are required for general regulatory purposes, going into more detail on the standard reproductive toxicity studies. Emphasis is put on those end-points that are directly related to endocrine disruptive effects. Until there is clear evidence to the contrary, it appears that existing regulatory tests represent a powerful approach for the detection of adverse effects that result from endocrine disruption. Additional end-points can be included in the existing studies to improve their performance. Alternative studies and techniques (in vivo and/or in vitro) can help to further characterise the effects that may be observed, and these techniques could be included in a primary screening test battery.
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Van Maele-Fabry, G., Willems, J.L. (2001). Pesticide Authorisation: Existing Policy with Regard to Endocrine Disrupters. In: Nicolopoulou-Stamati, P., Hens, L., Howard, C.V. (eds) Endocrine Disrupters. Environmental Science and Technology Library, vol 18. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9769-2_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9769-2_10
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