Plastic bottles and many other household items contain endocrine disrupters such as bisphenol A.
ISTOCK/THINKSTOCK
Dozens more researchers this week joined the fray in a row over how regulators should assess the risks of potentially dangerous chemicals used in everything from plastics to pesticides.
The leading toxicologists and endocrinologists have been trading barbs in the pages of respected journals over ‘endocrine disrupters’ — chemicals, such as bisphenol A (BPA), that affect the endocrine system and have beenlinked to developmental problems in humans.
The row erupted after a report by the European Commission reviewing its policy on endocrine disrupters was leaked, prompting a group of researchers to write a scathing editorial in Food and Chemical Toxicology in July attacking the assumptions underpinning the report’s proposals1.

But now, other groups of experts, including dozens of journal editors and scientists, have published strongly worded responses to the original editorial. This week's addition calls the original criticism “a profound disservice" to public health2
The Debate:  One Side Food and Chemical Toxicology
                     Other Side Endrocrinology
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