Estrogenic activity of US drinking waters: A relative exposure comparison

Abstract

This study demonstrates a relative exposure to estrogenic activity and other trace contaminants in drinking water compared with food, beverage, and air exposure. Drinking water for nearly 28 million people in 17 US cities plus 40 food and beverage items was screened for 51 trace contaminants, including suspected endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides, phytoestrogens, and total in vitro estrogenic activity. Only three drinking water samples exhibited measurable estrogenic activity (0.19–0.77 ng/L as estradiol equivalents), whereas 34 of the 40 food and beverage items had measurable estrogenic activity (median estradiol equivalents, 0.55–4,200 ng/L). On an adult, per‐serving basis, food and beverage intake of estrogenic activity was 4–21,000 times greater than in municipal drinking water. Of the literature studies available, air exposure for six suspected EDCs analyzed in this study resulted in at least 30–36,000 times the exposure from drinking water.

Screening of hormone-like activities in bottled waters available in Southern Spain using receptor-specific bioassays

“…Klinge et al (2003) detected a maximum of 84 ng E 2 Eq/L (308.3 pM E 2 Eq/L) in red wine, and Promberger et al (2001) reported a range from 23 to 41 ng E 2 Eq/L (84-150 pM E 2 Eq/L) in beer. These results were confirmed by Takamura-Enya et al (2003) and Stanford et al (2010), who reported a maximum activity of 140 ng E 2 Eq/L (513.9 pM E 2 Eq/L) in beer. Hartmann et al (1998) suggested that dairy products are the main source of estrogens, calculating a total daily intake of 80-100 ng estrogens per day for adults.…”

“…For example, our own group associated the estrogenic burden (range 5.44-720 nM E 2 Eq/L) in the liquor of vegetables packed in lacquer-coated cans with the presence of bisphenol-A (BPA) from epoxy resins (Brotons et al, 1995) and related the estrogenicity of baby food products (range 0.25-70.13 pM E 2 Eq/g) to the food packaging (Pandelova et al, 2011). In drinking waters, a maximum of 8.7 ng E 2 Eq/L (31.94 pM E 2 Eq/L) was detected in Brazil (Bergamasco et al, 2011) and a range of 0.19-0.72 ng E 2 Eq/L (0.7-2.64 pM E 2 Eq/L) in the USA (Stanford et al, 2010).…”

The E-screen test and the MELN gene-reporter assay used for determination of estrogenic activity in fruits and vegetables in relation to pesticide residues

“…Applying the factor used by Thomson (Thomson et al, 2003), the EEQ plasma levels obtained would result in an estimate of 0.7-0.9 ng EEQ/L, a level that is not likely to be of health significance for the population, confirming the results of our previous study . However, it is also feasible that total daily intake of EDCs might exceed our estimate due to possible contributions from as-yetundetermined EDCs in foods and beverages (Guenter et al, 2002;Muncke et al, 2009;Stanford et al, 2010;Wagner et al, 2011) and from other environmental sources (Takamura-Enya et al, 2003). For example, Behr and colleagues conclude that pesticide residues exhibit only marginal impacts on the estrogenic activity in the diet.…”

Natural and synthetic estrogens in wastewater treatment plant effluent and the coastal ocean

“…A common chemical additive, bisphenol A (BPA; EEq ~ 0.0001), has two H-bond donor groups but non-optimal shape . Finally, phytoestrogens (EEq ~ 0.0007), which are plantderived chemicals present at high concentrations in many food products (NCEH 2005;Stanford, Snyder et al 2010), have a molecular core that is typically more polar than that of steroidal estrogens ).…”