Targeting endocrine disruptors in Australia's waterways

摘要

Australia has lagged behind Europe and North America in research and policy on endocrine disrupting chemicals in the country's waterways. CSIRO has been working with Land & Water Australia to lay the groundwork for local action. Rachel Carson's documentation of the devastating effects of pesticides on the natural world in her landmark book Silent Spring1 in 1962 eventually led to the ban of DDT in the US. In 2006 - coincidentally the centenary of Carson's birth - CSIRO and Land & Water Australia released a groundbreaking report on the impact of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in Australia's waterways. The report, the first of its kind for the Australasian region, not only lays the foundation for a local research effort, but could well alter future government policy on water management.