A variety of environmentally persistent chemicals, including some phthalate plasticizers, are weakly estrogenic.

Abstract

Sewage, a complex mixture of organic and inorganic chemicals, is considered to be a major source of environmental pollution. A random screen of 20 organic man-made chemicals present in liquid effluents revealed that half appeared able to interact with the estradiol receptor. This was demonstrated by their ability to inhibit binding of 17 beta-estradiol to the fish estrogen receptor. Further studies, using mammalian estrogen screens in vitro, revealed that the two phthalate esters butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP) and di-n-butylphthalate (DBP) and a food antioxidant, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) were estrogenic; however, they were all less estrogenic than the environmental estrogen octylphenol. Phthalate esters, used in the production of various plastics (including PVC), are among the most common industrial chemicals. Their ubiquity in the environment and tendency to bioconcentrate in animal fat are well known. Neither BBP nor DBP were able to act as antagonists, indicating that, in the presence of endogenous estrogens, their overall effect would be cumulative. Recently, it has been suggested that environmental estrogens may be etiological agents in several human diseases, including disorders of the male reproductive tract and breast and testicular cancers. The current finding that some phthalate compounds and some food additives are weakly estrogenic in vitro, needs to be supported by further studies on their effects in vivo before any conclusions can be made regarding their possible role in the development of these conditions. Images Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 3. Figure 4.

Endocrine disruptors in bottled mineral water: total estrogenic burden and migration from plastic bottles

“…The sum of studied compounds was thus 12 times higher in water from PET bottles compared to samples from glass bottles. Taken together, there is good analytical evidence for the migration of certain phthalates from PET food packaging materials, some of them well-known xenoestrogens (Jobling et al 1995). However, the estrogenicity reported in this study might also arise from unexpected compounds: Shotyk et al (2006) found antimony in up to 30 times higher concentrations in mineral water from PET compared to glass bottles and confirmed its leaching from PET (Shotyk and Krachler 2007), in whose manufacturing antimony trioxide is used as catalyst.…”

Review of risk from potential emerging contaminants in UK groundwater

“…Other food additives include camphor, 1,8-cineole (eucalyptol), citral, citronellal, cis-3-hexenol, heliotropin, hexanoic acid, menthol, phenylethyl alcohol, triacetin, and terpineol. Some of these may be implicated as oxidants or endocrine disruptors (Jobling et al, 1995).…”

Monitoring of selected estrogenic compounds and estrogenic activity in surface water and sediment of the Yellow River in China using combined chemical and biological tools

“…The observed effects in fish include vitellogenin induction, abnormal development of gonads (Harries et al, 1997;Lye et al, 1997;Jobling et al, 2002) and secondary sexual characteristics (Batty and Lim, 1999;Xie et al, 2010), which have been linked to some estrogenic compounds in the effluents of sewage treatment plants (Harries et al, 1997;Jobling et al, 2002;Lye et al, 1997;Thorpe et al, 2003;Xie et al, 2010). These compounds include 4-t-octylphenol (4-t-OP), 4-nonylphenols (4-NP), bisphenol-A (BPA), estrone (E1), estradiol (E2) and triclosan (TCS), which have been demonstrated to have in vitro and/or in vivo estrogenic activities (Foran et al, 2000;Ishibahsi et al, 2004;Jobling and Sumpter, 1993;Jobling et al, 1995;Raut and Angus, 2010;Stasinakis et al, 2008). Therefore, it is essential to monitor these estrogenic compounds in aquatic environments in order to protect the ecosystem.…”