Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Environmental Health Perspectives logoLink to Environmental Health Perspectives
. 1994 Dec;102(Suppl 12):55–59. doi: 10.1289/ehp.94102s1255a

The wildlife/human connection: modernizing risk decisions.

T Colborn 1
PMCID: PMC1566744  PMID: 7713035

Abstract

This article proposes that genetic and molecular ecotoxicology can play an important role in making policy and risk assessment decisions concerning xenobiotics. It calls for a greater awareness by ecotoxicologists to the effects in wildlife and humans resulting from transgenerational exposure to synthetic chemicals that interfere with gene expression and differentiation. The difficulty of recognizing these effects on the endocrine, immune, and nervous systems in developing embryos is described and suggests why effects of this nature have traditionally not been addressed when determining risk to synthetic chemicals. Specific examples are cited of environmental effects on hormonally responsive tissue in wildlife populations which could be used as models for assessing human exposure to synthetic chemicals. Evidence is presented that the environmental load of synthetic chemicals has reached critical levels at which wildlife and human health are at risk.

Full text

PDF
55

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bordet F., Mallet J., Maurice L., Borrel S., Venant A. Organochlorine pesticide and PCB congener content of French human milk. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol. 1993 Mar;50(3):425–432. doi: 10.1007/BF00197204. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bush B., Bennett A. H., Snow J. T. Polychlorobiphenyl congeners, p,p'-DDE, and sperm function in humans. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol. 1986 Jul;15(4):333–341. doi: 10.1007/BF01066399. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Carlsen E., Giwercman A., Keiding N., Skakkebaek N. E. Evidence for decreasing quality of semen during past 50 years. BMJ. 1992 Sep 12;305(6854):609–613. doi: 10.1136/bmj.305.6854.609. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chilvers C., Pike M. C., Forman D., Fogelman K., Wadsworth M. E. Apparent doubling of frequency of undescended testis in England and Wales in 1962-81. Lancet. 1984 Aug 11;2(8398):330–332. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(84)92697-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Colborn T. Epidemiology of Great Lakes bald eagles. J Toxicol Environ Health. 1991 Aug;33(4):395–453. doi: 10.1080/15287399109531537. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cryptorchidism: an apparent substantial increase since 1960. John Radcliffe Hospital Cryptorchidism Study Group. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1986 Nov 29;293(6559):1401–1404. doi: 10.1136/bmj.293.6559.1401. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. De Guise S., Lagacé A., Béland P. True hermaphroditism in a St. Lawrence beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas). J Wildl Dis. 1994 Apr;30(2):287–290. doi: 10.7589/0090-3558-30.2.287. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Fry D. M., Toone C. K. DDT-induced feminization of gull embryos. Science. 1981 Aug 21;213(4510):922–924. doi: 10.1126/science.7256288. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Jansen H. T., Cooke P. S., Porcelli J., Liu T. C., Hansen L. G. Estrogenic and antiestrogenic actions of PCBs in the female rat: in vitro and in vivo studies. Reprod Toxicol. 1993 May-Jun;7(3):237–248. doi: 10.1016/0890-6238(93)90230-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Kinloch D., Kuhnlein H., Muir D. C. Inuit foods and diet: a preliminary assessment of benefits and risks. Sci Total Environ. 1992 Jul 15;122(1-2):247–278. doi: 10.1016/0048-9697(92)90249-r. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Krishnan A. V., Stathis P., Permuth S. F., Tokes L., Feldman D. Bisphenol-A: an estrogenic substance is released from polycarbonate flasks during autoclaving. Endocrinology. 1993 Jun;132(6):2279–2286. doi: 10.1210/endo.132.6.8504731. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kubiak T. J., Harris H. J., Smith L. M., Schwartz T. R., Stalling D. L., Trick J. A., Sileo L., Docherty D. E., Erdman T. C. Microcontaminants and reproductive impairment of the Forster's tern on Green Bay, Lake Michigan--1983. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol. 1989 Sep;18(5):706–727. doi: 10.1007/BF01225009. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kubiak T. J., Harris H. J., Smith L. M., Schwartz T. R., Stalling D. L., Trick J. A., Sileo L., Docherty D. E., Erdman T. C. Microcontaminants and reproductive impairment of the Forster's tern on Green Bay, Lake Michigan--1983. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol. 1989 Sep;18(5):706–727. doi: 10.1007/BF01225009. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. McMaster M. E., Portt C. B., Munkittrick K. R., Dixon D. G. Milt characteristics, reproductive performance, and larval survival and development of white sucker exposed to bleached kraft mill effluent. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 1992 Feb;23(1):103–117. doi: 10.1016/0147-6513(92)90025-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Moccia R. D., Leatherland J. F., Sonstegard R. A. Quantitative interlake comparison of thyroid pathology in Great Lakes coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and chinook (Oncorhynchus tschawytscha) salmon. Cancer Res. 1981 Jun;41(6):2200–2210. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Ness D. K., Schantz S. L., Moshtaghian J., Hansen L. G. Effects of perinatal exposure to specific PCB congeners on thyroid hormone concentrations and thyroid histology in the rat. Toxicol Lett. 1993 Jun;68(3):311–323. doi: 10.1016/0378-4274(93)90023-q. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Porter W. P., Green S. M., Debbink N. L., Carlson I. Groundwater pesticides: interactive effects of low concentrations of carbamates aldicarb and methomyl and the triazine metribuzin on thyroxine and somatotropin levels in white rats. J Toxicol Environ Health. 1993 Sep;40(1):15–34. doi: 10.1080/15287399309531773. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Reijnders P. J. Reproductive failure in common seals feeding on fish from polluted coastal waters. Nature. 1986 Dec 4;324(6096):456–457. doi: 10.1038/324456a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Reijnders P. J. Reproductive failure in common seals feeding on fish from polluted coastal waters. Nature. 1986 Dec 4;324(6096):456–457. doi: 10.1038/324456a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Risebrough R. W., Rieche P., Peakall D. B., Herman S. G., Kirven M. N. Polychlorinated biphenyls in the global ecosystem. Nature. 1968 Dec 14;220(5172):1098–1102. doi: 10.1038/2201098a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Sager D. B., Shih-Schroeder W., Girard D. Effect of early postnatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) on fertility in male rats. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol. 1987 Jun;38(6):946–953. doi: 10.1007/BF01609078. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Sharpe R. M. Declining sperm counts in men--is there an endocrine cause? J Endocrinol. 1993 Mar;136(3):357–360. doi: 10.1677/joe.0.1360357. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Sharpe R. M., Skakkebaek N. E. Are oestrogens involved in falling sperm counts and disorders of the male reproductive tract? Lancet. 1993 May 29;341(8857):1392–1395. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(93)90953-e. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Tilson H. A., Jacobson J. L., Rogan W. J. Polychlorinated biphenyls and the developing nervous system: cross-species comparisons. Neurotoxicol Teratol. 1990 May-Jun;12(3):239–248. doi: 10.1016/0892-0362(90)90095-t. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Environmental Health Perspectives are provided here courtesy of National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

RESOURCES