Resources for learning more about environmental reproductive health
PRHE Publications
Toxic Matters
The recommendations in this brochure are designed for women, men and children and apply to everyone regardless of whether or not you're pregnant now or are planning to have children in the future. Find out how to prevent exposure to toxic substances at home, in the workplace and in your community. Also learn what it takes to become a conscientious shopper and how to get the best household products for you and your family. Finally, learn how to start a conversation with your governmental representatives that will improve the overall health of all our communities.
Shaping Our Legacy: Reproductive Health and the Environment
This report on the 2007 Summit on Environmental Challenges to Reproductive Health and Fertility offers a nontechnical summary of the latest science on how exposure to chemicals may impair our reproductive health. It also outlines what we can do to create environments that are healthier for fertility and reproduction.
Shaping Our Legacy is also available in Spanish.
Forjando nuestro legado: La salud reproductiva y el medio ambiente
Forjando nuestro legado representa un resumen no técnico de las conclusiones científicas más recientes acerca de los efectos nocivos de las sustancias químicas ambientales sobre la salud reproductiva. El informe también explica las medidas que podemos tomar, en nuestra calidad de médicos clínicos, grupos afectados, profesionales del área de elaboración de políticas, activistas comunitarios, investigadores y científicos, a fin de crear un ambiente más sano para la fertilidad y la reproducción
Also on PRHE's web site
Elsevier and Fertility and Sterility have generously made available articles from their Online Supplement on the Summit on Environmental Challenges to Reproductive Health and Fertility.
Reports and Brochures
Girl, Disrupted
A Report on the 2008 Women's Reproductive Health and the Environment Workshop
This 35-page report was written for non-scientists to explain what’s known, what’s suspected and what should be the focus of additional research regarding contaminants linked to conditions including early puberty, infertility, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, breast cancer and others. Based on cutting-edge research and reviewed by top scientists in the field, Girl, Disrupted explains what hormone disruptors are and how these chemicals affect women’s reproductive systems - particularly at critical stages of development.
Hormone Disruptors and Women's Health: Reasons for Concern
A six-page summary brochure that highlights the key scientific takeaways covered in Girl, Disrupted
Web sites geared towards the general public
Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE)
CHE's web site includes:
- A searchable database that summarizes the links between chemical exposures and approximately 180 human diseases or conditions.
- Scientist-reviewed papers on the links between chemical exposures and numerous reproductive health diseases and disorders.
- Downloadable recordings of CHE Partnership Calls on a variety of topics pertaining to chemical exposures and reproductive health.
- Working groups, including the Fertility/Early Pregnancy Compromise Working Group
Environment California
Environment California offers a variety of reports on environmental health topics, including: Toxic Baby Furniture: The Latest Case for Making Products Safe from the Start, The Right Start: The Need to Eliminate Toxic Chemicals from Baby Products; and Toxic Toys.
Environmental and Reproductive Health Resource Center
Although the science is still emerging, strong evidence exists for linking environmental exposures to negative health outcomes such as increased infertility, recurrent miscarriage, early puberty in girls, and reproductive tract cancers and diseases such as endometriosis. This collection of evidence-based resources, compiled by the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, helps answer questions about how pollutants in our air, water, homes, and general environment are affecting reproductive health.
Environmental Health News (EHN)
EHN offers daily updates on the latest news, science and reports on the emerging scientific links between environmental exposures and human health.
Environmental Protection Agency
This site contains a wealth of information about current research, policy, and environmental conditions. Find out what environmental hazards and conditions exist in your neighborhood at the EPA's interactive Window to My Environment web-based tool, or check out their Concerned Citizens Resources.
Environmental Working Group (EWG)
EWG publishes a variety of reports on human exposure to chemicals and on toxic effects of chemical exposures. Their web site also offers tools for identifying and reducing sources of exposure to chemicals. For example:
- A Shoppers Guide to Pesticides in Produce
- Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database
- 10 Everyday Pollution Solutions
The Green Guide (Published by National Geographic)
The Green Guide publishes a monthly magazine, weekly newsletter, product reports and reviews, and Smart Shopper Cards focused on practical everyday, environmentally responsible and health-minded product choices and actions. Topics include: cosmetics, personal care products and sunscreens; fish, meat, produce and eggs; plastic food and drink containers; food and product labels; non-toxic toys; cleaning products; and home renovation and furnishings.
Health eHouse
Health eHouse is an interactive resource for information on how to reduce environmental health risks to children in and around the home, and is produced by Healthy Child, Healthy World. Health eHouse includes resources such as a Virtual House that shows where dangerous everyday household products can be found and eliminated and a Resource Room with how-to's, articles and a chemical encyclopedia that provides information on health effects, uses, how we are exposed, statistics and alternatives for a large number of chemicals in commerce.
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)
IATP offers a collection of “smart guides” on plastics, meat and dairy, produce, and fish.
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
NRDC publishes a variety of reports and policy papers on environmental health topics such as: children's health; health threats and effects; farming and pesticides; chemicals at home, school and work; and science and public policy. They also produce the Simple Steps website, which offers information to support healthy decisions for yourself, your home and the planet (for example, how to find a safe sunscreen or choose a fish low in mercury).
Our Stolen Future Web Site
The Our Stolen Future web site provides regular updates about the latest science related to endocrine disruption. The site also posts information about ongoing policy debates, as well as new suggestions about what consumers and citizens can do to minimize risks related to hormonally-disruptive contaminants.
Skin Deep
Skin Deep is a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products. This database pairs ingredients in nearly 25,000 products against 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases and provides safety ratings for nearly a quarter of all products on the market.
Women's Health and the Environment
The Women's Health and the Environment web site offers a toolkit, which covers the science linking our helath and the environment, as well as information on everyday actions you can take around the home to reduce exposure to chemicals in our environment. The web site also offers a new report on Hormone Disruptors and Women's Health, as well as a collection of information and resources for getting involved in the larger movement to hold goverment and industry accountable for protecting us from chemical exposures.
Books
Our Stolen Future: Are we threatening our fertility, intelligence, and survival? A scientific discovery story.
Theo Colborn, Diane Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers. Foreword by Vice President Al Gore. Plume Publishing. 1996. ISBN: 0452274141.
A book about the health and environmental threats created by man-made chemical contaminants that intefere with hormones in humans and wildlife.
Generations at Risk: Reproductive Health and the Environment.
Ted Schettler, Gina Solomon, Maria Valenti, and Annette Huddle. MIT Press, 1999. ISBN: 0262692473.
A book that reviews the linkages between four major classes of chemicals - solvents, pesticides, metals and endocrine disruptors - and reproductive health effects including miscarriages, birth defects, and fertility issues. It includes sections on exposure assessment, consumer and worker activism, regulation of hazardous chemicals and a primer for the clinician.
Having Faith.
Sandra Steingraber. Perseus Publishing, 2001. ISBN: 0425189996
A scientist's personal encounter with the effects of chemical pollution on childbearing. This book presents a wide-ranging overview of new developments in genetics, embryology, and infant development.
Raising Baby Green: The Earth-Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Baby Care.
Dr. Alan Greene. Jossey-Bass, 2007. ISBN: 9780787996222.
This guide offers advice on making healthy choices during pregnancy, childbirth and parenting, including recommendations on consumer products.
Patient Advocacy Organizations
American Fertility Association
Endometriosis Association
InterNational Council on Infertility Information Dissemination
Resolve: The National Infertility Association
Policy Groups
WELL Network
WELL Network is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization of women who are business leaders, professionals, philanthropists, and decision makers within their communities. Through symposia, workshops, and publications, the WELL Network educates and mobilizes their friends, associates, and political leaders about solutions to serious health and environmental problems. These include the presence of dangerous chemicals in our bodies from everyday products, the impacts of air pollution on our families' health, and the immense challenges of climate change to our children and grandchildren.
Professional and Scientific Societies
American Academy of Pediatrics
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
American College of Preventive Medicine
American Society for Reproductive Medicine
American Society of Andrology
Association of Reproductive Health Professionals
Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society
Endocrine Society
International Society for Environmental Epidemiology
Society for Male Reproduction and Urology
Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility
Society for the Study of Reproduction
Society of Toxicology
UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment
1330 Broadway Street, Suite 1100
Oakland, CA 94612
phone: (510) 986-8990
email: prhe@obgyn.ucsf.edu
Copyright 2008 The Regents of the University of California
Last updated:
September 27, 2011
Web Master: prhe@obgyn.ucsf.edu