**1. Introduction**

The incidence of diabetes and associated metabolic disorders has tripled over recent decades and continues to rise at an alarming rate. Currently, 382 million individuals worldwide are estimated to have diabetes and this number is believed to increase to 592 million by 2035 [1]; the vast majority of the cases is type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Taking into account the number of patients impacted by T2DM and its long-term consequences in terms of morbidity, mortality and economic costs, there is considerable interest in under‐ standing the contribution of non-traditional risk factors to the diabetes epidemic, especially concerning environmental chemicals and particularly endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs).

Researches addressing the role of environmental chemicals in the development of metabolic disorders, like obesity and T2DM, have rapidly expanded. Epidemiological and experimental evidence suggest an association between exposure to EDCs and T2DM, especially since the exposure to chemicals increased massively in the last decade.

In this chapter we tried to elucidate the following issues: (1) the concept of EDCs; (2) human exposure to EDCs; (3) particular concepts related to EDCs; (4) mechanisms of EDCs action involved in the development of T2DM; (5) evidence of T2DM in animal models; (6) epidemio‐ logical data linking EDCs exposure to T2DM and (7) challenges in EDCs research.

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