Endocrine disruption: lessons learned.

Endocrine Disruption: Lessons Learned Schwetz's editorial, "Responding to Environmental Issues: Lessons Learned" (1), was stimulating and raised many pertinent points concerning the current interface of politics with the scientific process. I would like to discuss two issues raised by Schwetz. First, Schwetz (1) noted that effort should have been expended over the past few years to build a database with which to evaluate how endocrine-disrupting (ED) agents may cause adverse effects in animals and humans. Later, he stated that we still do not have validated test methods for the detection of endocrine-disrupting activity. These two statements are in apparent conflict, given that ED assays would be required to establish a database. However, there are many reliable ED assays in current use, and all that is needed in many cases is agreement on key aspects of the test protocols and limitations on data extrapolation. The picture is far from gloomy. Second, Schwetz observed that