The scientific journal Nature published a news article investigating the divide between scientists and regulators on non-monotonic low-dose effects, which has stalled advances of chemical regulation (Fagin 2012). Scientists have been investigating and finding non-monotonic low-dose effects since the seventies, yet studies carried out by industry and regulators have not been able to confirm these results. Consequently, regulators have not yet become active. A BPA mega-study might solve the divide and change the risk assessment of endocrine disruptors but will take another five years to be completed. In order bypass legislation and rapidly improve the analysis of newly synthesized compounds, some scientists have written a paper, which shall give industrial chemists a detailed advice on how to carry out studies investigating endocrine effects. The paper is scheduled to be published in January in the scientific journal Green Chemistry.
References:
Fagin, D. (2012). Toxicology: The learning curve. Nature 490, 462–465 (25 October 2012).
