A new project has been launched to remove hormone-changing pollutants from the environment.
A new project has been launched to remove hormone-changing pollutants from the environment.
Project RedPol is a 2.8m euro project, involving researchers from the universities in the English Channel area (Portsmouth, Brighton, Caen and Le Havre), Chichester Harbour Conservancy and the French company Toxem.
It aims to develop biotechnology products (biotests) to identify and analyse endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and eliminate them at source. There are at least 1,200 suspected endocrine compounds that need to be evaluated across Europe.
Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that can interfere with endocrine (or hormonal) systems and can cause cancerous tumours, birth defects, and other developmental disorders in human beings. This also has impact on the wider environment, leading to reproductive, development and behavioural problems in wildlife, which can generate an imbalance in reproduction and environmental health.
Read more at University of Portsmouth
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