Abstract
Phthalate esters are ubiquitous in today’s environment. Both terrestrial and aquatic organisms are subject to a low level but constant exposure to this class of chemicals. Until very recently, it was not thought likely that any phthalates would display endocrine activity, and hence very little, if any, research focused on this possibility. When reproductive effects were observed, they were not interpreted as being due to any intrinsic endocrine activity of phthalates (or their products of metabolism), but rather due simply to a “toxicity” of unknown mechanism. However, recently a small number of phthalates has been found to elicit estrogenic responses in in vitro assays. None of these, however, have been found capable of inducing specifically estrogen-dependent effects in vivo. It is unlikely that phthalates alone are responsible for what may be endocrine-mediated adverse effects observed in wildlife and humans over the past few decades, but it is possible that they are a contributory factor to this phenomenon. Phthalates administered in high doses to adult mammals have caused adverse reproductive development in their offspring. Recent thinking has proposed that these manifestations may be as a result of an anti-androgenic mechanism. This theory should be investigated in greater depth, and at environmentally relevant concentrations of the active phthalates. Before it is possible to assess the risks (if any) of exposure to phthalates, a much wider range of test species, and a wider range of endpoints, particularly endocrine ones, need to be assessed.
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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Harris, C.A., Sumpter, J.P. (2001). The Endocrine Disrupting Potential of Phthalates. In: Metzler, M. (eds) Endocrine Disruptors – Part I . The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 3L. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/10690734_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/10690734_9
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