EDC-MixRisk – Safe chemicals for future generations

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) have been linked to serious health problems such as diabetes, obesity, and neurodevelopmental and reproductive disorders. EDC-MixRisk has studied the effects of prenatal exposure to mixtures of potential EDCs on the development and health of children. The objectives of the project were i) Identification of mixtures of EDCs that are associated with multiple adverse health outcomes; ii) Identification of molecular mechanisms and pathways underlying these associations and iii) Development of methods for risk assessment of EDC-mixtures.

EDC-MixRisk applied an integrated approach which was grounded on interdisciplinary collaboration, including epidemiology, experimental biology and regulatory toxicology. Three health domains were addressed: 1) growth and metabolism, 2) neurodevelopment and 3) sexual development. By using a whole mixture approach and epidemiology data from the Swedish pregnancy cohort SELMA, relevant EDC mixtures associated with adverse health outcomes in humans were identified. Then, reference mixtures were created to mimic real-life internal exposures, and these mixtures were tested in various cell and animal models. The experimental data were used to establish new methods and strategies for mixture risk assessment in order to complement current approaches and to better address environmental exposures. The main results and conclusions of the project are summarized in a final technical report that is available here.