HUGE, IF TRUE: Massive US health tab for hormone-disrupting chemicals.

Exposure to tiny doses of hormone-disrupting chemicals is responsible for at least $340 billion (310 billion euros) in health-related costs each year in the United States, according to a report published Tuesday.

So-called endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are found in thousands of everyday products, ranging from plastic and metal food containers, to detergents, flame retardants, toys and cosmetics.

Neurological damage and behavioural problems, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism and loss of IQ, accounted for at least four-fifths of these impacts, researchers said in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, a medical journal.

The invisible but dangerous chemicals also boosted obesity, diabetes, some cancers, male infertility and a painful condition known as endometriosis, the abnormal growth of tissue outside the uterus.

The economic impact of the chemicals leaves a huge, two percent dent in the US’ gross domestic product (GDP) each year.

“Our research adds to the growing evidence on the tremendous economic as well as human health costs of endocrine-disrupting chemicals,” said lead investigator Leonardo Trasande, an associate professor at NYU Langone in New York City.

“This has the potential to develop into a much larger health and economic issue if no policy action is taken,” he told AFP.

The body’s endocrine tissues produce essential hormones that help regulate energy levels, reproduction, growth, development, as well as our response to stress and injury.

Mimicking naturally occurring hormones such as oestrogen and androgen, EDCs lock on to receptors within a human cell and block the body’s own hormones from binding with it.

I’d like to see more research.