Endocrine Disruptors in Depth

We've all probably heard the term endocrine or hormone disruptors multiple times and we are all probably aware that they are bad for us, but what are they exactly? How do they function?
According to the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences:

"Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that may interfere with the body’s endocrine system and produce adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects in both humans and wildlife."

  photo from http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/assets/images/bodyorgansjpg.jpg

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can be natural or man-made. However, since WWII and our increasing dependence on synthetic chemistry, our concern has turned toward the over 80,000 new chemicals created. Many of these chemicals are EDCs.

Hormones in our body interact with specific target organs (made of cells). For example, estrogen targets the ovaries.  disrupt these pathways by interacting with the target organ, binding to hormone transport proteins, disrupting gene expression, inducing or inhibiting enzymes and interfering with cellular uptake and export. Source: TEDX

http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/Images/graphs/arsenicblocks.jpg

http://greenprintsurvival.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/endocrine-disruption.jpg

EDCs can be found pretty much everywhere, from food to toys and pesticides. Unfortunately, we can't shop our way around this problem. We need strong legislation to rid ourselves of these chemicals once and for all. That is why I support Safer Chemicals for Healthy Families. Please Check out their website.

Safer Chemicals Health Families