Assessing the profound significance of exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals requires the incorporation of principles of endocrinology into traditional toxicology protocols. This call, jointly hosted by CHE and The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX), featured Dr. Jerrold Heindel presenting an overview of an historically important meeting in Berlin that brought toxicologists and endocrinologists together in September 2012 to begin the mapping of such an incorporation. Dr. Laura Vandenberg then discussed nonmonotonic dose response, one of the possible effects of EDCs that can be overlooked in traditional toxicological risk assessment. Gwynne Lyons described the current European Union negotiations concerning EDC regulation.
Featured Speakers
Jerrold (Jerry) Heindel, PhD, received his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Michigan and worked in the area of reproductive biology and toxicology while on the faculty at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and the University of Mississippi before coming to NIEHS to head its reproductive and developmental toxicology group. In 1997 he moved to the Division of Extramural Research and Training at NIEHS where he is a scientific program administrator and responsible developing and administering the NIEHS grants program in endocrine disruptors, developmental basis of diseases, reproductive toxicology and obesity. He is also the coordinator for the virtual consortium of researchers studying the effects of bisphenol A.
Gwynne Lyons worked for many years as a pharmacist before becoming senior researcher at Friends of the Earth in 1987, and subsequently toxics science and policy advisor at World Wildlife Fund-UK. She has been a member of the Health and Safety Commission’s Advisory Committee on Toxic Chemicals, and was a member of the UK Government’s Advisory Committee on Hazardous Chemicals from 2001-2008. In 2008, Ms. Lyons was listed in the Independent on Sunday's list of Britain's top 100 environmentalists as "Britain's most effective expert on toxic chemicals."
Laura Vandenberg, PhD, received her Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Cornell University in 2003 and her doctorate from Tufts University’s School of Medicine in 2007. Her dissertation research was entitled “Fetal Origins of Adult Disease: Xenoestrogens and Breast Cancer Risk.” Recently she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Tufts University Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology, where her benchwork focused on understanding early embryonic patterning events. Dr. Vandenberg has made several important contributions to the field of environmental health sciences. As an expert in human exposures to BPA she has published several studies examining the effects of this chemical on the development of the rodent mammary gland. Most recently, she was the lead author on a comprehensive review of the endocrine disruptor literature, focusing on low-dose effects and nonmonotonic dose responses. This work was the basis for several scientific conferences including an international meeting co-sponsored by the European Commission and the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences.