Endocrine Disruption in the Aquatic Environment

2006 ◽  
pp. 271-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
John P. Sumpter
Keyword(s):  
Endocrine Disruption ◽  
Aquatic Environment

scholarly journals Search for the evidence of endocrine disruption in the aquatic environment; Lessons to be learned from joint biological and chemical monitoring in the European project COMPREHEND

2003 ◽  
Vol 75 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 2445-2450 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. I. L. Eggen ◽  
B.-E. Bengtsson ◽  
C. T. Bowmer ◽  
A. A. M. Gerritsen ◽  
Michel Gibert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Endocrine Disruption ◽  
Aquatic Environment ◽  
Estrogenic Activity ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Domestic Wastewater ◽  
Industrial Effluents ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Fish Population ◽  
Genetic Changes ◽  
Chemical Monitoring

Between January 1999 and December 2001, the European Community project COMPREHEND was performed. The overall aim of COMPREHEND was to assess endocrine disruption in the aquatic environment in Europe, consequent to effluent discharge, with emphasis on estrogenic activity. COMPREHEND demonstrated the widespread occurrence of estrogenic effluents across Europe and presented evidence of impacts on a range of wild fish species. Using a variety of bioassays in combination with chemical analytical methods, estrogenic steroids of human origin from domestic wastewater effluents were identified as the most pervasive problem, although alkylphenols may be important estrogenic components of some industrial effluents. New tools have been developed for the identification of estrogenic effluents, and recommendations are made for the improvement of existing techniques. We have shown that individual fish within natural populations may be feminized to varying degrees, but it has not been possible to show, using traditional fish population parameters, that the survival of fish populations is threatened. However, laboratory-based fish life-cycle studies demonstrate the sensitivity of fish to estrogen (and androgen) exposure and how this might lead to complex (and potentially damaging) genetic changes at the population level. New approaches to this problem, utilizing recent advances made in the field of molecular and population genetics, are recommended. Finally, a study of estrogenic and androgenic activity of waste waters during the treatment process has shown that some of the existing wastewater treatment technologies have the potential to eliminate or minimize the hormonal activity of the final effluent.

Alkylphenol ethoxylates and alkylphenols – update information on occurrence, fate and toxicity in aquatic environment

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 762-771 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kovarova ◽  
J. Blahova ◽  
L. Divisova ◽  
Z. Svobodova
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Endocrine Disruption ◽  
Human Blood ◽  
Mode Of Action ◽  
Aquatic Environment ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Alkylphenol Ethoxylates ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Natural Conditions ◽  
Human Blood And Urine

AbstractAlkylphenols and their precursors, alkylphenol etoxylates, are a group of manmade chemicals used mainly as surfactants in domestic and industrial applications worldwide. It has been well established that they have endocrine disruption activity, hepatotoxic, genotoxic and other negative effects on animal and human health. In spite of the effort to reduce their use, they persist in the environment not only in industrial but also in remote regions, and were detected in the variety of natural matrices including air, water, soil as well as food products, and human blood and urine worldwide. This article summarizes their occurrence, fate in natural conditions, and toxicity including mode of action. A subject of our concern was the aquatic environment as the most important reservoir and target of their deleterious impact.

scholarly journals Partitioning, bioavailability and effects of oestrogens and xeno-oestrogens in the aquatic environment

2005 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.J. Langston ◽  
G.R. Burt ◽  
B.S. Chesman ◽  
C.H. Vane
Keyword(s):  
Endocrine Disruption ◽  
Aquatic Environment ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Estuarine Sediments ◽  
Food Chains ◽  
Benthic Organisms ◽  
Nonyl Phenol ◽  
Model Compounds ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting

This review provides insights into the distribution and impact of oestrogens and xeno-oestrogens in the aquatic environment and highlights some significant knowledge gaps in our understanding of endocrine disrupting chemicals. Key areas of uncertainty in the assessment of risk include the role of estuarine sediments in mediating the fate and bioavailability of environmental (xeno)oestrogens (notably their transfer to benthic organisms and estuarine food chains), together with evidence for endocrine disruption in invertebrate populations.Emphasis is placed on using published information to interpret the behaviour and effects of a small number of ‘model compounds’ thought to contribute to oestrogenic effects in nature; namely, the natural steroid 17β-oestradiol (E2) and the synthetic hormone 17α-ethinyloestradiol (EE2), together with the alkylphenols octyl- and nonyl-phenol (OP, NP) as oestrogen mimics. Individual sections of the review are devoted to sources and concentrations of (xeno)oestrogens in waterways, sediment partitioning and persistence, bioaccumulation rates and routes, assays and biomarkers of oestrogenicity, and, finally, a synopsis of reproductive and ecological effects in aquatic species.

Endocrine disruption in wild freshwater fish

2003 ◽  
Vol 75 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 2219-2234 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Jobling ◽  
C. R. Tyler
Keyword(s):  
Freshwater Fish ◽  
Endocrine Disruption ◽  
Aquatic Environment ◽  
Population Biology ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Population Models ◽  
Fish Populations ◽  
Reproductive Capacity ◽  
Specific Chemical ◽  
Individual Fish

Endocrine disruption has been reported in freshwater fish populations around the world. This phenomenon ranges from subtle changes in the physiology and sexual behavior of fish to permanently altered sexual differentiation and impairment of fertility. Despite widespread reports of endocrine disruption in fish (and this is well characterized at the individual level), few studies have demonstrated population-level consequences as a result of exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). An exception to this is in Lake Ontario Lake trout where precipitous declines in the population have been linked with periods of high exposure to organochlorine chemicals (known EDCs). Recently, it has been established that roach (Rutilus rutilus) exposed to treated sewage effluent (that contains complex mixtures of EDCs) in UK rivers, have a reduced reproductive capacity. This, in turn, may have population-level consequences. Evidence for a link between exposure to effluents from kraft mill (BKME) and sewage treatment works (STWs) and altered reproductive function in freshwater fish is compelling. In most cases, however, a causal link between a specific chemical and a physiological effect has not been established. Indeed, identifying specific chemical(s) responsible for adverse effects observed in the wild is difficult, given that tens of thousands of man-made chemicals enter the aquatic environment and that mixtures of chemicals can have combination (e.g., additive) effects. Some EDCs are known to act at a number of different body targets to affect a variety of physiological processes, further complicating the identification of the causative agent(s). Endocrine disruption appears to be particularly widespread in freshwater fish populations. There is little evidence, however, to suggest fish are more susceptible to EDCs relative to other wildlife. Notwithstanding this, there are some features of the endocrine physiology of fish that may be particularly susceptible to the effects of EDCs, including the processes of sex-determination and smoltification (in salmonids). Furthermore, their aquatic existence means that fish can be bathed constantly in a solution containing pollutants. In addition, uptake of chemicals readily occurs via the gills and skin, as well as via the diet (the major exposure route for most EDCs in terrestrial animals). The exposure of fish early life stages to the cocktail of EDCs present in some aquatic environments may be of particular concern, given that this is an especially vulnerable period in their development. The challenge, from the point of view of ecological risk assessment, is to determine effects of EDCs on freshwater fish populations and freshwater ecosystems. In order to meet this challenge, high-quality data are required on the population biology of freshwater fish, on the effects of EDCs on their various life history characteristics, and comprehensive and appropriate population models. Basic information on the population biology of most species of wild freshwater fish is, however, extremely limited, and needs significant improvement for use in deriving a sound understanding of how EDCs affect fish population sustainability. Notwithstanding this, we need to start to undertake possible/probable predictions of population level effects of EDCs using data derived from the effects found in individual fish. Furthermore, information on the geographical extent of endocrine disruption in freshwater fish is vital for understanding the impact of EDCs in fish populations. This can be derived using published statistical associations between endocrine disruption in individual fish and pollutant concentration in receiving waters. Simplistic population models, based on the effects of EDCs on the reproductive success of individual fish can also used to model the likely population responses to EDCs. Wherever there is sufficient evidence for endocrine disruption in freshwater fish and the need for remediation has been established, then there is a need to focus on how these problems can be alleviated. Where industrial chemicals are identified as causative agents, a practical program of tighter regulation for their discharge and/or a switch to alternative chemicals (which do not act as EDCs) is needed. There are recent examples where such strategies have been adopted, and these have been successful in reducing the impacts of EDCs from point source discharges on freshwater fish. Where EDCs are of natural origin (e.g., sex steroid hormones from human and animal waste), however, remediation is a more difficult task. Regulation of the release of these chemicals can probably be achieved only by improvements in treatment processes and/or the implementation of systems that specifically remove and degrade them before their discharge into the aquatic environment.

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