The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences ("NIEHS") defines endocrine disruptors as "chemicals that may interfere with the body's endocrine system and produce adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects in both humans and wildlife." It notes that a wide variety of substances, including pharmaceuticals, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls ("PCBs"), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane ("DDT") and other pesticides, and plasticizers such as bisphenol A (commonly known as "BpA") can cause endocrine disruption.

Endocrine disruptors, also known as endocrine-disrupting chemicals ("EDCs"), exist throughout our environment and work in a variety of nefarious ways. They can mimic naturally occurring hormones like estrogens and androgens, thereby causing overstimulation of the endocrine system. EDCs can bind to receptors within cells and block endogenous hormones from binding, causing interference with the production or control of natural hormones and their receptors. The latest scientific knowledge indicates that EDCs persist throughout the environment, including in our nation's waters, and are having profound effects on fish, wildlife, and humans.

Yet, the U.S. federal government has done very little to protect human health or the environment from these harms. A patchwork of regulatory mechanisms exist-through the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; Safe Drinking Water Act; Toxic Substances Control Act; Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act; and the Clean Water Act. However, as currently implemented, these mechanisms at best provide a regulatory net full of holes whereby EDCs enter and pervade our environment and have astonishing effects. Perhaps the most promising of all existing frameworks is the Clean Water Act ("Act"), which if implemented fully could both limit human exposure to waterborne EDC pollution, as well as protect aquatic environments and species from EDC harm.