The Impact of a Drop of Eye Drop - Environmental Hormone Detection Technology and Scientific Awakening (September 1998)

The Impact of a Drop of Eye Drop - Environmental Hormone Detection Technology and Scientific Awakening (September 1998)

In the late 1990s, the term "environmental hormones (endocrine disrupting chemicals)" suddenly came to the forefront of Japanese society, and in 1997, as the Environmental Agency (now the Ministry of the Environment) was formulating its "Environmental Hormone Strategic Plan SPEED'98," this invisible chemical was suspected of causing sex changes and deformities in fish and amphibians. This invisible chemical was suspected to be the cause of sex change and deformities in fish and amphibians, and a social panic-like concern grew. This was the "first year of environmental hormones," a time of daily media coverage and accelerating citizen movements and corporate responses.

Behind this was the limitation of detection technology. Until now, chemical analysis had been limited to the PPB (parts per billion) level, and even concentrations below this level had been found to have an effect on the human body. For example, experiments had begun to show that even a drop of eye drops in a pool of water, or PPT (parts per trillion) levels, could cause reproductive abnormalities and developmental disorders.

At this time, a joint research team from the National Institute for Environmental Studies, the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health, and the Osaka Municipal Institute of Environmental Science began developing a new test-tube analysis method that could detect extremely low levels, which was impossible with conventional gas chromatography-mass spectrometers. The method that attracted attention was one that utilizes the phenomenon of environmental hormones causing the production of specific proteins in the body. Although the method is limited to around 20 substances, the rapidity with which results can be obtained in a few hours has raised expectations for practical application.

The Okayama Prefectural Environmental Health Center has also succeeded in developing a method to simultaneously measure multiple environmental pollutants such as dioxins and benzo(a)pyrene. Tests that were previously conducted individually can now be processed in batches, and significant reductions in cost and time were anticipated. Technological innovation was quietly but surely progressing behind the scenes in support of the government's environmental policy.

As of September 1998, the Environment Agency had listed 67 suspected chemical substances, and analytical methods to improve the accuracy of their detection were being studied in the public and private sectors. The analysis targets included substances used in familiar products, such as bisphenol A (resin material), organotin (ship paint), phthalate esters (plasticizers), and nonylphenol (detergent). Tracing the effects of these substances on fish and human health after they flowed into the sea and rivers was a top-priority issue in both science and policy.

With the saying, "What you cannot see is the most dangerous," the development of technology to detect chemical substances in the environment, no matter how small the amount, and predict their biological effects was not simply a matter of analysis, but also a philosophical question: "How can science cross the boundary between humans and nature? The advances in detection technology at that time were proof that scientists, government administrators, and society as a whole were beginning to face this question.