US, Nov. 11 -- When it comes to hormone-disrupting chemicals, people worry most about what they eat and drink and least about what they put on their skin, according to new research published in Risk Analysis.

The survey of adults in Denmark, the United Kingdom and the United States found that people judge the risks of these endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) less by the chemical itself than by how it gets into the body. People who said they knew more about EDCs also believed they were more vulnerable to them -- a sign that giving people more information may not, on its own, put their minds at ease.

EDCs are substances that interfere with the body's hormonal signaling and are associated with adverse health effects, including harm t...