Rebuttal of “Flawed Experimental Design Reveals the Need for Guidelines Requiring Appropriate Positive Controls in Endocrine Disruption Research” by vom Saal

That the developmental effects of the potent environment estrogen ethinyl estradiol (EE2) address important agency research needs and that EE2 is not just a ‘‘positive control.’’ Why the Long Evans (LE) rat and several other rat strains are excellent animal models for the study of the potential adverse effects of xenoestrogens. Why the argument that LE rats and other rat strains are ‘‘insensitive strains’’ is not consistent with (a) the pharmacological and toxicological data showing that humans and these rat strains display similar sensitivities to EE2 and (b) the cellular and molecular biology of the action of estrogens on different target tissues How the effects of leaching of bisphenol A (BPA) from polycarbonate cages have been grossly exaggerated. That governmental regulatory agencies have concluded that studies like ours (Ryan et al., 2010) are useful for risk assessment, whereas many of the ‘‘positive’’ low-dose studies were ‘‘inadequate’’ or the results have not been replicated. THE DEVELOPMENTAL EFFECTS OF THE POTENT ENVIRONMENT ESTROGEN EE2 ADDRESS IMPORTANT AGENCY RESEARCH NEEDS AND EE2 IS NOT JUST A POSITIVE CONTROL