摘要
With the use of over 100,000 industrially produced chemicals, there have been several concerns on human health and environment. Most of these chemicals are exposed into the natural environment during the life cycles of their production, transportation, storage, consumption, and as by-products and wastes. The rising rates of cancer, obesity, and infertility suggests that there are compounds recently introduced to the environment that have altered the chemistry of the human body, and it is only with the monitoring of xenobiotics such as Bisphenol A （BPA）, nonyphenols, estrogen （natural and synthetic） and other endocrine-disrupting compounds （EDCs） that patterns and links could be drawn. This paper investigates the safety, environmental and health （SHE） impacts caused by BPA, nonyphenols and estrogens. Derived from petroleum, bisphenol A is used in manufacturing plastic consumer products, including certain water bottles, in dental sealants for children＇s teeth, and in resins used to line tin cans. Nonyphenol is one of the by-products of alkylphenolpolyethoxilates which is widely used as nonionic surfactants. Synthetic estrogen used for birth control pills as well as natural estrogen excreted by women through urine enters the domestic wastewater streams. These compounds are considered to be EDCs and have severe SHE concerns. In this paper, the challenges of entry of these compounds （xenobiotics） into nature, health and environmental issues and their remediation have been reviewed in detail.
