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La commission européenne traine des pieds pour définir et, derrière, réglementer les perturbateurs endocriniens. DR

Endocrine dis­rup­tors : a resear­cher from Grenoble scolds Brussels

Endocrine dis­rup­tors : a resear­cher from Grenoble scolds Brussels

FOCUS – Endocrine dis­rup­tors are still not regu­la­ted in Europe. While Brussels calls upon a lack of scien­ti­fic consen­sus to jus­tify its inac­ti­vity, resear­chers inter­vene. For the epi­de­mio­lo­gist from Grenoble, Rémy Slama, whose research sho­wed the link bet­ween some of these che­mi­cal sub­stances and obe­sity in young boys, nothing pre­vents us from control­ling these mole­cules, which are dan­ge­rous for health. If we were to lobby the industrialists…

La commission européenne traine des pieds pour définir et, derrière, réglementer les perturbateurs endocriniens. DR

The European Commission is drag­ging its feet in defi­ning and, the­re­fore, regu­la­ting endo­crine dis­rup­tors. DR

As the European Commission are reluc­tant to define and clas­sify endo­crine dis­rup­tors, blo­cking any pos­si­bi­lity of regu­la­ting these che­mi­cals, which are said to inter­fere with the func­tio­ning of hor­mones in humans and ani­mals, seven inde­pendent resear­chers, inclu­ding the epi­de­mio­lo­gist from Grenoble, Rémy Slama, are intervening*.

Brussels had until December 2013 to present this infa­mous scien­ti­fic cri­te­ria, pre­re­qui­site in an ope­ra­tio­nal defi­ni­tion of these che­mi­cal mole­cules that act as hor­mo­nal lures in the orga­nism. Seeing nothing coming, the European Court of Justice even scol­ded Brussels in December 2015..

“At European level, the cur­rent issue, in order to allow the appli­ca­tion of laws on pes­ti­cides and bio­cides, which can no lon­ger be pla­ced on the mar­ket, calls for an offi­cially reco­gni­zed defi­ni­tion of endo­crine dis­rup­tors”, explains Rémy Slama, Research Director of Inserm at the Institute Albert Boniot in Grenoble. “In Europe, there is a defi­ni­tion of car­ci­no­gens and repro­toxic sub­stances, but not of endo­crine disruptors.”

The excuse for the lack of scien­ti­fic consensus

Why this inac­ti­vity ? A lack of scien­ti­fic consen­sus, the European Commissioner for health replied. An excuse that woke up the resear­chers. Seven of them expres­sed them­selves in an article publi­shed in the scien­ti­fic jour­nal, Environmental Health Perspectives, on Monday 25th April, 2016. Environmental Health Perspectives.

A defi­ni­tion of endo­crine dis­rup­tors has exis­ted since 2002 ; it is that of the World Health Organization. According to WHO, an endo­crine dis­rup­tor is “a sub­stance or exo­ge­nous mix­ture that changes the func­tion of the endo­crine sys­tem [or hor­mo­nal sys­tem] and which, accor­din­gly, has adverse effects on the health of an intact orga­nism, or its off­spring, popu­la­tions or popu­la­tion sub-groups.”

De nombreux pesticides ont des effets de perturbateurs endocriniens. Crédit Fotolia

Numerous pes­ti­cides have endo­crine dis­rup­ting effects. © Fotolia

Classification ? It should be simple to set up, model­led on that of car­ci­no­gens, with set­tings from “defi­nite endo­crine dis­rup­tors”, to “active endoc­tri­no­lo­gi­cal sub­stances”, inclu­ding “sus­pec­ted endo­crine disruptors’.

The legis­la­tive fra­me­work is in place. Two laws were pas­sed in 2009 and 2012, res­pec­ti­vely on pes­ti­cides and bio­cides. But, due to the lack of ope­ra­tio­nal defi­ni­tion of endo­crine dis­rup­tors, it was impos­sible to imple­ment the regu­la­tions. In short, a vicious circle…

Hundreds of endo­crine dis­rup­tors at large

In the mean­time, hun­dreds of sub­stances flood the pes­ti­cide, plas­tic and cos­me­tic mar­kets each year. Some have been regu­la­ted. DDT and PCBs have been pro­hi­bi­ted since 1972 and 1987. Six phtha­lates have been ban­ned from chil­dren’s toys, yet one is still used in the cos­me­tic indus­try. Bisphenol A, has theo­re­ti­cally been ban­ned in food contai­ners since 2015. A case-by-case policy, which, if it plays in the hands of the indus­tria­lists, seems to attach lit­tle impor­tance to the sani­tary urgency.

Researchers are in no doubt about the risks to health. Congenital defor­ma­tions, disor­ders of neu­ro­lo­gi­cal deve­lop­ment or beha­viour, breast can­cer, diabetes…

Research coor­di­na­ted by the Inserm team of envi­ron­men­tal epi­de­mio­logy and the Grenoble-Alpes uni­ver­sity, has poin­ted out the role of para­bens and tri­clo­san during pre­gnancy. According to the Grenoble resear­chers, expo­sure to these endo­crine dis­rup­tors could sti­mu­late obe­sity in unborn chil­dren, with the risk of them deve­lo­ping dia­betes in the lon­ger term.

The effects of expo­sure to endo­crine dis­rup­tors on health are just star­ting to be known. But costs would amount to bet­ween 100 and 200 bil­lion euros in Europe.

Remy Slama, directeur de recherches Inserm à l'Institut Albert Bonniot de Grenoble vient de montrer les risques de la pollution pour la santé

Remy Slama. © Inserm

That means it is still impos­sible to know the exact num­ber of endo­crine dis­rup­tors. “There are pro­ba­bly hun­dreds, inclu­ding a cer­tain num­ber used as pes­ti­cides in Europe,” says Rémy Slama. “Unlike research on can­cer, there is no offi­cial body in charge of offi­cially iden­ti­fying these sub­stances, in par­ti­cu­lar, because there is no definition.”

The defi­ni­tion is, the­re­fore, the key to the sys­tem, and in the cor­ri­dors of the European Commission, the fight rages on. In 2013, the Environment Directorate sug­ges­ted cri­te­ria to define endo­crine dis­rup­tors, before juris­dic­tion was relin­qui­shed, in favour of its coun­ter­part in health.

Since then, the cri­te­ria momen­ta­rily grew, making way for envi­ron­men­tal research, which never ceases to amaze resear­chers. The research results are expec­ted before sum­mer, 2016.

“An impact study will quan­tify the cost of health care, the num­ber of cases of disease, the pos­sible eco­no­mic cost, and socie­tal mea­sures, and then com­pare it to the pre­vious situa­tion”, explains Rémy Slama. “This is mea­ning­ful before put­ting a law in place, but the laws were pas­sed in 2009 and 2012. Above all, thin­king that an impact study could pro­vide a scien­ti­fic defi­ni­tion is abso­lute nonsense.”

With the excep­tion of the sug­ges­tion that this impact study could influence the choice of a defi­ni­tion, more or less wide, of what an endo­crine dis­rup­tor is… “Europe is the first major eco­nomy to have put a stra­tegy in place, and a set of laws, which speak of endo­crine dis­rup­tors as such. There is real legis­la­tion, but it is not applied.”

Patricia Cerinsek

*The authors of this article are asso­cia­ted with Inserm, the Grenoble Alpes University, the CNRS and the French National Natural History Museum ; the CHU in Liège (Belgium); the University of Nottingham and the Brunel University in London (UK); the University of Turin (Italy) and the University of Massachusetts (USA).

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