154
exposure to these chemicals raises crucial questions about their impact on human
health. Different effects on respiratory, neurological, immunological and endocrine
systems are reviewed on a regular basis [1–6]. This recent awareness calls for the
development of new analytical techniques that are able to provide rapid information
on tissular, cellular and molecular targets of these chemicals and their metabolites.
It is also important to study the biological processes implicated in their mechanisms
of toxicity.
The risk assessment and characterization of adverse effects of environmental
pollutants on human health has become a major issue. Since 1981, guidelines for the
testing of chemicals are published and regularly updated by OECD, the Organization
of Economic Cooperation and Development. This organism gathers internationally
accepted methods used by governments, universities and industrial laboratories to
determine the safety of chemicals by evaluating their physicochemical properties,
degradation and accumulation in the environment, but also effects on biotic systems
(ecotoxicity) and on human health (toxicity). Toxicity tests must evaluate the different adverse effects observed after oral administration, inhalation or contact via the
skin of each studied molecule at different dose levels (i.e., repeated, chronic or sub
chronic doses) [7]. These effects are skin/eye irritation, mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, neurotoxicity, developmental toxicity, one- and two-generation reproduction,
etc. As defined by the OECD test guidelines, toxicokinetic studies must also be
conducted to provide information on the absorption, distribution, metabolization
and excretion (ADME) of the tested molecule.
The population concerns about changes in our environment and the potential
health consequences of these changes have increased over the past decades to
become one of the major concerns of this new century. In the 2000’s, this concern
has seen developments with the release of results showing the increase in the frequency of various abnormalities affecting the reproductive system and/or the different functions controlled by hormones in male and female individuals, in different
species, including Man. These results were immediately relayed throughout the
world by major international media.
In humans, the concern and debate did crystallize on the fact that sperm production in some parts of the world was decreasing (dropping) and on the increase of
genital tract pathologies such as testicular cancers. In women, it is the increase in
the frequency of breast cancer and perhaps the possibility of an increase in the frequency of endometriosis, that is the subject of most debates. As a matter of fact, the
scientific community now considers that each case of endometriosis can be attributed for half to genetic factors and half to environmental factors, among which
endocrine disruptors. A recent study shows that prenatal exposure to Bisphenol A
could contribute to the development of a disorder resembling endometriosis in
female mice [8].
Several converging indices attribute the increase in the frequency of these abnormalities or conditions to changes in environmental conditions: epidemiological data
on migrants between their country of origin and their host country, or between consumer groups for example; experimental biological data on the exposure of wild or
laboratory animals to different physical or chemical agents.
C. Pineau
exposure to these chemicals raises crucial questions about their impact on human
health. Different effects on respiratory, neurological, immunological and endocrine
systems are reviewed on a regular basis [1–6]. This recent awareness calls for the
development of new analytical techniques that are able to provide rapid information
on tissular, cellular and molecular targets of these chemicals and their metabolites.
It is also important to study the biological processes implicated in their mechanisms
of toxicity.
The risk assessment and characterization of adverse effects of environmental
pollutants on human health has become a major issue. Since 1981, guidelines for the
testing of chemicals are published and regularly updated by OECD, the Organization
of Economic Cooperation and Development. This organism gathers internationally
accepted methods used by governments, universities and industrial laboratories to
determine the safety of chemicals by evaluating their physicochemical properties,
degradation and accumulation in the environment, but also effects on biotic systems
(ecotoxicity) and on human health (toxicity). Toxicity tests must evaluate the different adverse effects observed after oral administration, inhalation or contact via the
skin of each studied molecule at different dose levels (i.e., repeated, chronic or sub
chronic doses) [7]. These effects are skin/eye irritation, mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, neurotoxicity, developmental toxicity, one- and two-generation reproduction,
etc. As defined by the OECD test guidelines, toxicokinetic studies must also be
conducted to provide information on the absorption, distribution, metabolization
and excretion (ADME) of the tested molecule.
The population concerns about changes in our environment and the potential
health consequences of these changes have increased over the past decades to
become one of the major concerns of this new century. In the 2000’s, this concern
has seen developments with the release of results showing the increase in the frequency of various abnormalities affecting the reproductive system and/or the different functions controlled by hormones in male and female individuals, in different
species, including Man. These results were immediately relayed throughout the
world by major international media.
In humans, the concern and debate did crystallize on the fact that sperm production in some parts of the world was decreasing (dropping) and on the increase of
genital tract pathologies such as testicular cancers. In women, it is the increase in
the frequency of breast cancer and perhaps the possibility of an increase in the frequency of endometriosis, that is the subject of most debates. As a matter of fact, the
scientific community now considers that each case of endometriosis can be attributed for half to genetic factors and half to environmental factors, among which
endocrine disruptors. A recent study shows that prenatal exposure to Bisphenol A
could contribute to the development of a disorder resembling endometriosis in
female mice [8].
Several converging indices attribute the increase in the frequency of these abnormalities or conditions to changes in environmental conditions: epidemiological data
on migrants between their country of origin and their host country, or between consumer groups for example; experimental biological data on the exposure of wild or
laboratory animals to different physical or chemical agents.
C. Pineau