New and Emerging Contaminants/Endocrine Disrupting Compounds

1
New and Emerging Contaminants/Endocrine
Disrupting Compounds
2
EPA Definitions

• Contaminant Any physical, chemical, or
  biological, that does, or may occur in water.
• Contaminant Candidate List The primary source of
  priority contaminants for which EPA conducts
  research to make decisions about whether
  regulations are needed. These contaminants are
  currently unregulated by existing national
  primary drinking water regulations.

3

• Known Contaminants Those that have been
  identified in the technical literature and
  adequately characterized to enable a judgment
  regarding their inclusion in the CCL universe.
• Emerging Contaminants A subset of agents
  previously evaluated as not requiring inclusion
  in the CCL, for which new information becomes
  available which heightens concern and triggers
  re-evaluation.
• New Contaminants Agents that are or may be
  newly-discovered or synthesized, for which little
  is known about their potential occurrence or
  adverse health effects.

4
How About

• Any contaminant of anthropogenic origin, that is
  known or proven to cause harm, either acutely or
  chronically, to the biological component of an
  aquatic ecosystem, including humans.

5
Targeted Contaminants

• Veterinary and Human Antibiotics
• Tetracyclines, fluoroquinolones, macrolides, and
  sulfonomides.
• Human drugs
• Prescription (antihypertensives, antidepressants,
  anticoagulant, etc)
• Non-prescription (analgesics, anti-inflammatorys,
  stimulants, etc.)

6

• Industrial and Household Wastewater Products.
• Insecticides
• Plasticizers
• Detergent metabolites
• Fire retardants
• PAHs (naphthalene, anthracene, fluoranthrene,
  etc.)
• Anti-oxidants
• Personal care products (fragrances, deodorants,
  etc.)

7

• Sex and Steroidal Hormones
• Biogenics (17ß- estradiol, estrone, progestrone,
  testosterone, etc)
• Pharmaceuticals (ovulation inhibitors, hormone
  replacement, etc.)
• Sterols (cholesterol, 3b-Coprostanol, etc.)

8

• As population centers expand and grow, emerging
  contaminants will become increasingly emergent.

9
Endocrine Disrupting Compounds

• Several of these contaminants can interact with
  endocrine systems and cause a disruption to
  normal functions in several ways.
• They can act like a natural hormone and bind to a
  receptor. This causes a similar response by the
  cell, known as an agonist response.
• They can bind to a receptor and prevent a normal
  response, known as an antagonistic response.
• A substance can interfere with the way natural
  hormones and receptors are synthesized or
  controlled.

10
(No Transcript)
11
Consequences of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds
(EDCs)

• Chemicals affected by the endocrine system
  determine behavioral responses.
• These, in turn, determine what works and what
  doesnt re. life history strategies for
  survival and reproduction.

12

• Behavioral responses are what drive evolutionary
  history and speciation.
• A disruption in the ability to make correct
  choices regarding survivability and reproduction
  has the ability to disrupt evolutionary
  processes.

13
Wildlife as Indicators of EDC Exposure

• All vertebrates share remarkably similar
  endocrine systems.
• Several studies have attempted to determine
  physiologic effects in wildlife, especially
  wholly aquatic species like fish.

14
Difficulties

• Synergism and additive effects of several
  compounds.
• Compound-specific body targets.
• Poor information re. life history and behavioral
  patterns of even the most common fish species.
• Isolation of endocrine disruption as a stressor.
• Lack of adequate controls and replicates due to
  cost of analyses.

15
Quantifying Potential Endocrine Disruption in
Effluent-Dependent Waters in Arizona Fish as
Habitat Assessment Biomarkers

• Large support from USGS
• Gail Cordy (hydrology/water quality)
• Dr. Timothy Gross (endocrinology, histopatholgoy)
• Larry Barber (pharmaceutical and sex hormone
  analysis)
• Ed Furlong (wastewater compounds)
• Dana Kolpin (logistics)
• Nick Paretti (graduate student)

16
Research Design

• Bonytail chub (gila elegans) kept in large,
  recirculating aquaria at ERL.
• Four tanks, 2 treatment and 2 control.
• Control tanks filled with water treated by
  charcoal filtration and reverse osmosis.
• Treatment tanks filled with varying
  concentrations of effluent (1/3, 2/3, and full
  strength)

17

• Effluent collected from the Santa Cruz River
  below Roger Road WWTP.
• Water samples collected and analyzed for EDCs.
• Blood collected from fish at the end of each
  dose, in a non-destructive manner, and analyzed
  for 17ß-estradiol, 11-ketotestosterone, and the
  egg protein vitellogenin.
• Histopathology done after each dose to determine
  stage of gonadal development.

18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)
20
(No Transcript)
21
(No Transcript)
22
Results to Date

• End of 1/3 dose, March 2005.
• End of 2/3 dose, July 2005.
• All doses will last approximately 4 months with
  sampling of fish and water occurring after 3
  months.
• Fish currently exposed to full strength effluent.

23
Preliminary EDC Analyses

• Source Effluent
• 32 compounds including the EDCs 17ß-estradiol,
  estrone, nonylphenol ethoxylates, and bisphenol A
  at concentrations from 0.03 to 9 µg/L.

24
1/3 Dose EDCs

• Control Tanks
• 6 compounds including DEET and 4 tert octylphenol
  (No known EDCs).
• Treatment Tanks
• 22 compounds including nonylphenol ethoxylates
  and bisphenol A.
• No difference in sex hormone levels or
  histopathology at 1/3 dose.

25
2/3 Dose EDCs

• Control Tanks
• 6 compounds including DEET, cholesterol, phenol,
  and oil/gas combustion by-products (no known
  EDCs).
• Treatment Tanks
• 35 compounds including nonylphenol ethoxylates
  and bisphenol A .

26

• As population centers increase, a likely increase
  in the amount and concentration of EDCs.
• Awaiting results from fish serum and
  histopathology from 2/3 dose.
• Awaiting results from estrogen(s) and
  pharmaceuticals from USGS.

27

• Aquatic species can, by longevity of exposure, be
  excellent indicators of exposure to low-dose
  EDCs.
• EDWs may provide beneficial habitat for native
  species but care must be taken to avoid
  ecological traps.

28
Questions?
Bisphenol-A
Ortho-N-Nonylphenol
Ethinyl Estradiol
Methoxychlor