Welcome to PRHE

Our mission is to create a healthier environment for human reproduction and development through advancing scientific inquiry, clinical care and health policies that prevent exposures to harmful chemicals in our homes, workplaces, and communities.

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Turning our science into action

Research

PRHE conducts groundbreaking, multi-disciplinary research that answers important questions of how chemicals and contaminants in our homes and environment affect fertility, pregnancy, and fetal and child development.

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Policy

PRHE identifies and communicates how science should be used in policymaking to protect health and is a leading scientific voice on EPA’s problematic implementation of the updated Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

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Education and Communications

PRHE is a leader in connecting the environment to pregnancy, prenatal health, and women’s health and works with major medical organizations to issue guidance on reducing chemical use and preventing harmful exposures.

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Latest News

Microplastics seen under a magnifying glass

Microplastics in the Air May Be Leading to Lung and Colon Cancers

Cancer HealthJanuary 13, 2025News

Tires and degrading garbage shed tiny pieces of plastic into the air, creating a form of air pollution that UC San Francisco researchers suspect may be causing respiratory and other illnesses.

Health experts rally for ‘call to arms’ to protect children from toxic chemicals

The GuardianJanuary 08, 2025News

Children are suffering and dying from disease that emerging scientific research has linked to chemical exposures, findings that require urgent revamping of laws around the world, according to a new paper published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

Microplastics in the Air Linked to Infertility and Cancer, Review Finds

NewsweekDecember 26, 2024News

A new review of roughly 3,000 studies has found that microplastics could be to blame for contributing to air pollution, respiratory issues, and additional health problems, including cancer and male and female infertility.

Looking at microplastics through microscope

Scientists know our bodies are full of microplastics. What are they doing to us?

NPRDecember 18, 2024News

It's a disturbing thought: At this very moment, tiny crumbs of plastic are trickling through our bodies, a parade of unwelcome houseguests ready to take up residence in some tissue or organ.

Are Microplastics In the Air Putting Your Fertility At Risk?

HealthDayDecember 18, 2024News

Microscopic plastic particles in the air could be contributing to a wide variety of health problems, including lung and colon cancers. Tires and degrading garbage shed tiny pieces of plastic which become airborne, creating a form of air pollution that’s not very well understood, a new review says.

Beware the air you breathe – more evidence links microplastics to health problems

The New LedeDecember 18, 2024News

People diagnosed with infertility and certain cancers may have to blame the very air they breathe, according to a new report that adds to evidence that tiny plastic particles in air pollution and other environmental sources could be causing these and other diseases and illnesses.

Scientists call on federal regulators to rid US agencies of corporate influence

The New LedeDecember 16, 2024News

Scientists are calling for the incoming Trump administration to adopt a set of guidelines designed to ensure scientific integrity at federal agencies and loosen corporate influence on regulators charged with protecting Americans’ health.

Chemical Policy, Science and Health Experts Urge New Administration to Adopt Guiding Principles

December 16, 2024Press Release

To protect health, the Trump administration must cut ties to polluting industries and ensure scientific integrity in decision-making, scientists say.

Chronic disease, including cancer, diabetes, and neurological disease, is on the rise, in part driven by exposures to health-harming chemicals from fossil fuels and plastics according to scientists from the UC San Francisco Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE) and public health experts who are urging the Trump administration to adopt scientific principles that will improve and protect health.

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