According to Ecetoc, an expert group from the industry research organization, the lack of mechanistic data on endocrine pathways in invertebrates is really challenging when using organisms for regulatory assessment of the environment for endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).

Ecetoc showed their concerns on potential EDCs to enter into effective regulatory action while the fundamental knowledge of invertebrate endocriology was missing. The commonly used invertebrate toxicity tests could show adverse effects that might result from an endocrine mode of action without actually identifying the mechanisms lying within; in vivo and in vitro tools are lacking to determine the mechanisms.

A compiled list of endocrine-related molecular initiating events across different invertebrate groups is suggested as an urgent priority to develop Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs), which is also strongly believed to benefit the regulation of such substance use. The relevant regulation is currentl unavailable, and the expert group including industry scientists, Steve Dungey from the UK Environment Agency, and Adam Lillicrap from the Norwegian Institute for Water Research in Oslo, Norway, are calling for strong attention on this topic, which is likely to affect the future restriction policy-making on the chemicals that are involved.