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Symposium Examines Threat to East
Asians from Endocrine Disrupters
The threat posed by endocrine disrupting chemicals to the people of East
Asia and their coastal ecosystems was the focus of an international
symposium organized by UNU and the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, April 17 - 18, 2000.
EDCs can interfere with the reproductive, growth and metabolic hormones
in humans and animals, resist natural degradation processes, and
accumulate in increasing levels through the food chain.
Several animal species in the East Asian coastal hydrosphere -
particularly marine mammals at the top of the food chain - are suffering
adverse health effects from EDC exposure.
EDC pollution sources include domestic and industrial wastes and
agricultural pesticide runoff. Rapid industrial development and
increased agricultural reliance on chemicals in the region have
heightened the risk to coastal ecosystems.
The symposium at the University of Malaya, conducted in cooperation with
the Shimadzu Corporation of Japan, was the second of a UNU series on EDCs
in the East Asian freshwater and coastal sea water.
Presenting the latest research were representatives and researchers
from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); University of
California, Berkeley (USA); National Institute for Environmental Studies
(NIES, Japan); University of Messina (Italy); and Ocean Research
Institute (ORI) of the University of Tokyo (Japan).
Representatives from China, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam presented
the status of coastal pollution in their countries - a monitoring effort
under UNU's Coastal Hydrosphere project. Following the symposium, representatives attended a three-day training workshop.
For further information:
UNU Public Affairs Section
Tel. (03) 5467-1243, -1246
Fax (03) 3406-7346
e-mail: Sudo@hq.unu.edu
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