in the trenches/endocrine disrupters

 

8. Funders

Scientific research is funded largely by the federal government and the chemical industry. Fourteen Federal agencies are involved in the Endocrine Disrupter Research Initiative, which encompasses more than 400 research projects. To find out more about which agencies and what projects, go to EDRI's Federal Research Project Inventory.

According to Nature, "the EPA currently spends almost $10 million a year on endocrine disrupter research, which it has been studying (under various names) for 20 years." Agencies such as the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences contribute to public education projects as well as research.

"The US chemical industry also is researching the issue and is accelerating its activity with a commitment of more than $10 million in research over the next two years," says the American Crop Protection Association. The Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology spends more than $1.5 million per year, or approximately 10% of the Institute's budget, on research in endocrine toxicology, according to CIIT. The Chemical Manufacturers Association and its Chlorine Chemistry Council are also among industry's contributors.

Private foundations also fund projects dealing with endocrine disrupter issues. Funding levels are often hard to pin down because this issue may fall under broader program goals such as water quality, ecosystem health, pollution prevention, or sustainable development.

The Eliminate Systemic Contamination program of the W. Alton Jones Foundation granted over $1.1 million in 1995 to a range of programs and organizations concerned with pesticide and endocrine disrupter issues.

The Pollution Prevention arm of The Pew Charitable Trusts funded projects to promote public education, sustainable agriculture, cleaner technology, to the tune of nearly $3 million in 1995.

Under its Sustainable Development mandate, the Jenifer Altman Foundation donates around $200,000 to various projects including the "Healthcare without Harm" campaign that focuses on medical waste incineration, a major source of dioxin.

Of the Joyce Foundation's 6 program areas, environment is one of the largest. The foundation supports efforts to find and implement "policy-based, prevention-oriented, scientifically sound solutions to environmental challenges facing the Great Lakes region." Endocrine disrupters fall within projects aimed at reducing toxics in agriculture and industry, and improving the health of the Great Lakes, on which the foundation spends about $3 million.

The Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust focuses on Education, Public Health and Environment issues in the New England area. Grants relating to endocrine disruption fall under the Public Health and Environment areas which received about $500,000 in 1996.

Several other Foundations are also involved, and we'll add them as we get more info.

 

More on Endocrines:
Table of Contents | Twelve Hundred Words or Less... | Web Resources
Activist Groups | Voices | New in the Literature | Hotspots
On the Other Hand... | Funders | What You Can Do