Basic Concepts Hormone disruptors Safer Homes and Gardens Hormone Disruptors From World Wildlife Fund Canada- Hormone Disrupters . A wide range of substances are now known to interfere with the normal functioning of the body's hormone system. This has fundamental implications for fertility and reproduction, intelligence, immune defense, and perhaps ultimately, survival. The world's biological diversity cannot be conserved in an environment filled with harmful chemicals. Yet, since the advent of the chemical industry in the 1940s, thousands of chemicals have been produced and released into the air and water.
Chemicals now contaminate even the remotest parts of the globe and the newly born.
Now, another hazard associated with chemicals used in industrial processes, consumer products, and pesticides is coming to light. Research and field data is indicating that a wide range of substances have the potential to interfere with the normal functioning of the body's hormone system. This has fundamental implications for fertility and reproduction, intelligence, immune defense, and perhaps ultimately, survival. Hormones play a particularly important role in the proper development and healthy growth of the developing fetus and newborn. Chemical Messengers Hormones are produced and regulated by the endocrine system in the bodies of all animals, including humans.