in the trenches/endocrine disrupters

 

2. Web Resources

Informative, easy to navigate, lots of resources and links--and nice looking too--start your endocrine expedition at these two sites:

Our Stolen Future, an important book published last year, was written by Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers. The authors summarize and continue the discussion at a well designed site. (In case you missed it: "Future Chemicals, Chemical Futures" is a recent Liberty Tree Newsroom Op-Ed piece by Our Stolen Future co-author John Peterson Myers.)

The Environmental Estrogen Home Page is maintained by the Center for Bioenvironmental Research of Tulane and Xavier Universities, New Orleans. Allow ample time; there's a lot to learn. This site recently acquired a whole new look. Check it out if you haven't been there in awhile. The crystal-clear organization remains the same.

These others are also well worth a visit:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently reviewed the existing research and released a Special Report on Environmental Endocrine Disruption: an Effects Assessment and Analysis. It's an interim assessment, pending a more extensive review expected from the National Academy of Sciences later in 1997. You can read a short abstract, download a 4-page fact sheet, or download the full 120-page report. If you need the Acrobat reader, follow a link at the site.

Other EPA sites--The Endocrine Disrupter Research Initiative outlines research needs. The Office of Pesticide Programs also offers background on endocrine disrupters. EPA's Resources for Non-profits is a compendium of useful EPA sites. You can also get there from the federal NonProfit Gateway, which is intended to facilitate partnerships between non-profit organizations and the federal government.

The Oestrogenic Chemicals Information Resource is a no-frills, but meaty and easy to navigate site by a Ph.D. in environmental chemistry, now at Friends Of the Earth. Along with British spelling, it has ample chemistry background, and a special message for the USA and other countries outside Europe.

Several scientists of EXTOXNET, a Pesticide Information Project of Cooperative Extension Offices of four universities around the nation, offer a discussion paper about Environmental "Hormones."

Peter deFur at the Center for Environmental Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, maintains an Endocrine Disrupters Website with brief background and info on steps individuals can take.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a branch of the National Institutes of Health, sponsors a variety of research and education projects, and publishes the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). The journal is available online, but much of it became off-limits to nonsubscribers in July 1997. Also check What's New at the NIEHS for press releases summarizing important research.

The article "Early Signs of Environmental Damage and Recovery," provides background on how researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory use wildlife species, such as fish and waterfowl, as bioindicators of environmental health.

Threats from Environmental Estrogens is a summary paper from The World Resources Institute.

The Environmental Journalism Center provides Environmental Hormones: Chemical Threats to Reproductive Health, a primer for reporters on the emerging science of hormone mimics and endocrine disrupters.

Sewage sludge "recycling" onto agricultural lands is another way toxics, including known endocrine disrupters, work their way into our food. The Sewage Sludge Homepage is rich with information, links and suggested actions. Be sure to follow the links to The Case for Caution from the Cornell Waste Management Institute and the Sludge Hits the Fan chapter from the book "Toxic Sludge is Good for You! -- Lies, Damned Lies and the Public Relations Industry." For additional background on potential dangers of landfill leaching see Rachel's Hazardous Waste News #90, See also New U.S. Waste Strategy, Part 1 and New U.S. Waste Strategy, Part 2: Sewage Sludge in Rachel's Environment & Health Weekly.

 

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