Can farm animals help to study endocrine disruption?

The phenomenon of endocrine disruption can be regarded as part of the disciplines of toxicology and environmental toxicology. These two disciplines have generated guideline protocols on how various effects of chemicals should be tested as a basis for regulatory decisions. These protocols almost exclusively involve laboratory rodents and the data obtained are then used for human risk assessment. Would it be justifiable, then, to introduce or promote the use of other species in these test protocols? There are, at any rate rationales for studying effects in species other than laboratory rodents: (1) other species may better mimic the human system; (2) they may in some cases be more useful for studying a certain mechanism or phenomenon; (3) they may highlight the diversity of effects or sensitivity between species. However, there are at least two basic criteria that must be met for a species before it can be introduced in this context: (a) we must have a good understanding of the physiological system to be studied; and (b) we must have a number of tools to study effects on this system. When it comes to the reproductive system - regarding which most endocrine disruption has been reported - farm animals are second only, or in some respects superior, to laboratory rodents with respect to these criteria. This review gives examples of how farm animals can be of use in the study of endocrine disruption with a focus on the author's own data from studies in the pig.