The US Environmental Protection Agency has moved closer to starting a screening programme on the health and environmental effects of common chemicals used in a range of products, from Pesticides to Plastics.

Based on the recommendations of a scientific advisory board, the EPA decided to initiate a screening programme to identify and characterise chemicals known as "endocrine disrupters". The EPA has said it will formally propose its screening and testing programmes by the end of the year.
Some scientists suspect that such chemicals cause birth defects, breast cancer, prostrate cancer and infertility in humans. Endocrine disrupters have already been proved to result in the developmental and reproductive and abnormalities in wildlife.

"Science has only recently come to understand the possible threats posed to public hearth and endocrine disrupters. The national screening programme recommended by the committee is a critical first step in efforts to identify any health threats from these substances", said an EPA administrator, Ms. Carol Browner.

The EPA will initially focus on 15,000 chemicals, which are produced in volumes exceeding 10,000 pounds(4,536kg) per year, and for which test data is limited.
These chemicals would be submitted to a series of screenings for help in allowing the agency to prioritise the chemicals for additional screening. The environmental group World Wildlife Fund praised the EPA decision, and urged the agency to push for full implementation of the screening programme with complete funding and "realistic criteria, procedures and priorities. EPA's fiscal 1999 appropriation bill budgets $4 millions for the testing, screening validation and establishment of a data base, according to Dr. Lynn Goldman, an EPA official. The EPA has funded a National Academy of Sciences critical review of endocrine disrupters set for release this month.

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