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INTRODUCTION

Molecular and cell biological experiments as well as research in animals and in the human indicate that ED's with estrogenic actions exist, which are present in either cosmetics (such as UV-absorbers and stabilisers) or pesticides/fungicides.

It is not clear whether these substances interact with other steroid receptors or act in non-reproductive organs like the neuroendocrine brain, the cardiovascular, skeletal or urogenital system during development and in adult life. Hence, risk assessment for organs known to be estrogen-, androgen-, progestin-, gulcocorticoid- or thyroid hormone-receptive following exposure to the above mentioned endocrine disrupters cannot be made yet.

The fundamental objective of this project is to study such effects with basic experimental and clinical tools.

EURISKED  has been funded for three years under the Fifth Framework of the European Union and started on October 1^st 2002. Together with 3 other projects dedicated to research on Endocrine disrupters (COMPRENDO, EDEN,  FIRE) it is part of a  cluster of projects named CREDO - Cluster for Research on Endocrine Disruption in Europe.

The CREDO Cluster is coordinated by Dr. A. Kortenkamp from the London School of Pharmacy - Centre for Toxicology. More than 60 laboratories of nearly all EU countries (including candidate member states) are jointly working under the "umbrella" of CREDO. The European Union raised about 25 Million Euros to financially support the scientific research of the above mentioned projects.

The overall goal of CREDO is to integrate a critical mass of knowledge into a scientific community to establish a centre for "Endocrine Disrupter Research" in Europe.