The Environment Agency will request roughly 3.13 billion yen in outlays in the fiscal 2000 budget to fight endocrine disrupters -- nearly double its allowances for the current fiscal year, agency officials said Wednesday.

The money will help fund such projects as studies to find the amount of endocrine disrupters in chemical substances to decide whether they should be put on the government's list of regulated substances.

Research into the effects that agricultural chemicals have on the human reproductive system will also be conducted, the officials said.

Eight government ministries and agencies have compiled budgetary requests for projects related to endocrine disrupters, which are commonly called environmental hormones in Japan.

The substances, along with dioxin, have become a major environmental concern.

The Health and Welfare Ministry will ask for 870 million yen for the fiscal 2000 budget to battle the disrupters.

The figure is slightly greater than the 851 million yen it received in the initial fiscal 1999 budget.

The ministry will use the money to make, among other things, a data base outlining the health hazards posed by endocrine disrupters.

In cooperation with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, it will also develop an international standard for testing the effects of these substances.

The Construction Ministry will ask for funding to conduct studies to check for toxic substances in building materials and check levels of endocrine disrupters in rivers.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries says it will study the effects of environmental hormones on the farming ecosystem, while the Labor Ministry hopes to check its effect on workers at plants that emit possibly toxic substances.

The Education and International Trade and Industry ministries, as well as the Science and Technology Agency, will also make similar budgetary requests.