Assessment of environmental endocrine disruptors in bald eagles of the Great Lakes

Environmental endocrine disruption in wildlife has primarily focused on est rogenic/androgenic end points and their antagonists. We describe here the w ork that has occurred within the Great Lakes of North America that has used the bald eagle (Halineetus leucocephalus) as a sentinel species of the eff ects of environmental toxicants, including endocrine disruption. Our data s uggests that population level effects of hormone disrupting chemicals, not necessarily estrogen/androgen mimics and their antagonists, have been assoc iated with reproductive and teratogenic effects observed in the bald eagle population within the Great Lakes Basin. Additional laboratory and field st udies are necessary to further clarify the role of environmental endocrine disrupters on reproduction in avian populations. The use of sea eagles (Hal ineetus spp.) as biosentinels of pollution in other regions of the world is also discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd, All rights reserved.