Our Stolen Future (Colborn et al., 1996) is perhaps the one book that should be read by those who have special interest in the science and stories of endocrine disruption. This book, forwarded by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, was published in over a dozen of foreign languages. In essence, the book explores the emerging science of how some synthetic chemicals interfere with the ways in which hormones function in humans and wildlife. It begins as a scientific detective story, but ends with a conclusion about the dreadful effects of persistent toxic substances, of which many are potential endocrine disruptors.

A successful spin-off of the book is the website www.ourstolenfuture.org, where the authors provide regular updates to present the cutting edge of science related to endocrine disruption. According to this website, there appear to be more pesticides having an adverse effect on the thyroid hormones than on other groups of hormones in our body. The runner-ups that are likewise susceptible to pesticide interference are those hormones present in or released by the sex and the reproductive organs.

Below are the more prominent pesticides listed, along with references, on the above website that have been suspected to affect the thyroid hormone levels: acetochlor, alachlor, amitrol, chlofentezine, ethylene thiourea, fenbuconazole, fipronil, heptachlor, heptachlor-epoxide, karate, malathion, mancozeb, maneb, methomyl, metribuzin, nitrofen, pendimethalin, prodiamine, pyrimethanil, tarstar, thiazopyr, zineb, and ziram. The website also listed mercury, pentachlorophenol, and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) as some of the thyroid hormone disruptors that are not typically or no longer used as pesticides.