§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, to their knowledge, the release (whether intended or unintended) of endocrine and hormone mimics into the environment is taking place; and if so, whether these have, or are suspected of having, an effect on the human genome and if, therefore, such a release is lawful.
74WA
The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (Earl Ferrers)Research on laboratory animals such as rats and fish has shown that a number of substances, both man-made and naturally occurring, have the potential to act as hormone mimics. Many of these substances are widely used in industrial processes and consumer products; some occur naturally in foods. They are therefore both present in the environment and released through processes and products.
In some circumstances such chemicals can interfere with the endocrine (hormonal) system, for example by acting like the hormone oestrogen to cause female traits to be manifest in male fish. This action does not affect the genome or the heritable material in cells. The department is not aware of any research to suggest that hormone mimics are acting in a way which would affect the human genome. Of course chemicals can have more than one type of biological activity, and substances with endocrine disrupting activities may also for example be carcinogenic and therefore be controlled for those reasons.
Releases into the environment of hazardous chemicals (including those potentially interacting with human genetic material, such as mutagens and carcinogens) are controlled under the provisions of Part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Water Resources Act 1991.
Current scientific opinion is that there is no proven link between observed trends in human reproductive health and exposure to putative hormone mimics in the environment. The question of hormone mimics is the subject of considerable research both in this country and elsewhere in Europe and in North America.