Exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals: changes from 2002 to 2024

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has released the report Exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: Changes from 2002 to 2024, along with an infographic and a video. The report investigates the change in exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) since risk management practices were put into place in the last decades.

The report, commissioned by FAO, narrows down on issues addressed previously in the 2002 report Global Assessment of the State-of-the-Science of Endocrine Disruptors, commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the follow-up report State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals – 2012, commissioned by UNEP and WHO.

It examines temporal trends since 2002 in the exposure of human populations and food-producing animals to chemicals consistently identified as EDCs, a period which has seen many changes in the manufacture, use and control of many EDCs. While FAO is primarily concerned with exposure to EDCs from the diet, the bulk of the available information on exposure trends is from human biomonitoring, which does not distinguish between dietary and non-dietary exposure.

An overall downward trend in human exposure to chemicals since 2002 is revealed in the report, as studied in the commodities: fish and shellfish, bovine milk and tissue, and other meat-producing animals such as pigs, sheep, poultry and hens’ eggs. Causes for this change include specific regulatory measures, voluntary industry initiatives and increased awareness among consumers.

"This report underscores the progress made in mitigating exposure to EDCs, particularly in our food supply," said Ms. Angeliki Vlachou, a food safety officer at FAO. "However, it also highlights the ongoing challenges posed by persistent chemicals in the environment.

For more information, download the report and infographic or watch the video

Photo: © FAO/Patrick Morin