In an article published on July 14, 2016 by the news provider Environmental Health News, researchers Laura Vandenberg and Christina Rudén, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health & Health Sciences, U.S., and Stockholm University, Sweden, respectively, inform about a new framework for the ‘systematic review and integrated assessment’ (SYRINA) of studies on suspected endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). “SYRINA fills an important regulatory gap, allowing scientists and regulators to evaluate the science on chemicals of concern transparently,” Vandenberg and Rudén state. The SYRINA framework was published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health and developed by Vandenberg, Rudén, and a collaboration of over twenty other scientists from the U.S., EU, Canada, and Australia. The framework “aims to provide the evidence base needed to support decision-making, including actions to minimize potential adverse effects of exposures to endocrine disruptors,” Vandenberg and Rudén further explain. SYRINA includes seven steps: 1) Formulate the problem, 2) develop the review protocol, 3) identify relevant evidence, 4) evaluate evidence from individual studies, 5) summarize and evaluate each stream of evidence, 6) integrate evidence across all streams, and 7) draw conclusions, make recommendations, and evaluate uncertainties. The proposed method is intended for use with the International Program on Chemical Safety (IPCS) and World Health Organization (WHO) definition of an EDC, but can also be used in the context of other definitions of EDCs, the authors note.
The SYRINA scientists “urge decision-makers in the EU, U.S., and elsewhere to utilize these methods to evaluate the scientific evidence linking environmental chemicals to health effects in humans or wildlife.”
Read more
Laura Vandenberg and Christina Rudén (July 14, 2016). “Commentary: Identifying the “bad actors”— new challenges for the evaluation of endocrine disrupting chemicals.” Environmental Health News
Reference
Vandenberg, L.N. et al. (2016). “A proposed framework for the systematic review and integrated assessment (SYRINA) of endocrine disrupting chemicals.” Environmental Health (published online July 14, 2016).
