Estrogenic Activity of US drinking waters: A relative exposure comparison

E xpanding population, limited access to freshwater, and continued growth in the manufacturing, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries increase the potential for exposure to a plethora of compounds through air, food, and water. Advances in analytical technology enable the scientific community to observe and quantify chemical contaminants in air and water at miniscule levels (parts per trillion and lower). Such technological advances have allowed researchers to detect trace levels of organic contaminants around the world in matrixes ranging from food to air to dust to water, yet the consequences of exposure to mixtures of these pollutants at low levels from multiple sources is still not fully understood. The scientific community has been concerned about endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and pharmaceuticals potentially entering drinking water supplies since at least 1965 when Harvard University researchers discovered that natural and synthetic estrogens are not completely eliminated by wastewater treatment (Stumm-Zollinger & Fair, 1965). As early as 1972, the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) discovered pharmaceuticals in wastewater effluent (Garrison et al, 1975). After these pioneering efforts, only sparse attention was paid to hormones and pharmaceuticals in the environBENJAMIN D. STANFORD,