Addressing Environmental Endocrine Disruptors to Improve Planetary Health

The 14th Gordon Conference on Environmental Endocrine Disruptors (EDs) will be held at the Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco Resort in Tuscany, Italy. This conference addresses the role of environmental EDs in planetary health, the transdisciplinary field that addresses the impacts of human activity on the health of humans and all life on Earth. Chemical pollution is one of the planetary boundaries transgressed due to high rates of production and release of hazardous chemicals. Chemical pollutants are widely distributed in the environment due to human activities such as plastics manufacturing, pesticides and industrial processes. A significant proportion of chemicals disrupts the action of hormones and are therefore considered EDs. The scientific evidence accumulated since the term endocrine disruption was coined thirty years ago leaves no doubt about their negative impact on human health and wildlife. For the environment, marine and terrestrial exposure has negative effects on animal species affecting biodiversity. In humans, environmental EDs are linked to reproductive disorders, obesity and diabetes, hormone-sensitive cancers in women, and prostate cancer, as well as negative impacts on thyroid, neuroendocrine and neurodevelopmental systems and, more recently, the immune system.

In the GRC 2024 we will focus on four cutting-edge multidisciplinary topics, providing insights into the latest advances in the science of environmental EDs from leading scientists, rising stars and selected trainees. 1) The latest advances on how environmental EDs affect the etiology of human diseases. 2) Current data on how they affect wildlife and biodiversity. 3) Advances in methods for identifying environmental EDs and 4) Solutions from regulation, science and industry.