There is an urgent need for a globally coordinated research programme to evaluate the risks to human health and the environment posed by contaminants of emerging concern, or CECs.

CECs are natural or synthetic chemicals that can affect an organism's ability to communicate with and respond to its environment. Well-known examples of their adverse biological effects include intersex phenotypes in wildlife, and poor sperm quality and quantity in humans (see also R. W. Stahlhut et al. Environ Health Perspect. 115, 876–882; 2007).

Field studies have so far been unsuccessful in predicting CEC effects. This is partly because of the complex interactions and multiple stressors that occur in nature, but also because such investigations often focus on a single chemical or chemical class, or on a specific mechanism or organism, or use environmentally unrealistic experimental exposure levels.

A coordinated programme should integrate new and ongoing research into the sources and fates of CECs, and the exposure risks associated with them. This would replace the present scattershot approach and would provide solutions and reliable information for policy-makers.