The third Gordon Research Conference on Environmental Endocrine Disruptors will be held on July 14-19, 2002, at Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. This conference, more than any other, will bring together a diverse group of scientists to interact in this interdisciplinary subject. Humans and wildlife are exposed to a large number of widely used environmental chemicals known or suspected to have either estrogenic or antiandrogenic activities, or to interfere with thyroid hormone action. Wildlife studies strongly suggest that populations are severely affected by these environmental endocrine disruptors (EEDs) in a number of ways (dysfunctional endocrine and reproductive systems, altered behavior, malformations, and thus reduced reproduction and population numbers). EEDs are also thought to cause malformations of the human genital tract as well as testicular and breast cancers. The US and Japanese governments and the European Union are gathering information, funding large research efforts, and in some cases, enacting laws regulating EEDs. In the US, amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Food Quality Protection Act mandate testing chemicals found in water and food for EED activity. The objectives of the Environmental Endocrine Disruptors Gordon Conference will be to: 1) present state-of-the-art research at all levels of complexity (molecular to population), 2) emphasize mechanistic approaches to the understanding of endocrine disruption, 3) work at integrating data emerging from these different fields of inquiry and levels of biological complexity, 4) identify gaps in knowledge and emerging areas of inquiry for exploration, and 5) enhance effective communication between scientists and foster new collaborative research efforts. The roster of invited speakers includes established leaders as well as young scientists who have recently reported exciting findings. In addition to the NIEHS, the interdisciplinary nature of this conference is of potential interest to several other institutes including the NICHD (developmental effects of endocrine disruptors on the male and female genital tract and mammary gland), the NIDDK (steroid hormone receptors, thyroid function, reproductive endocrinology) and the NCI (endocrine disruptors as carcinogens).
