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.

Learn More

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.

View Research

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).

View Policy

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.

View Education

Latest News

Southern California Regulators Let Industrial Polluters Exceed U.S. EPA Guidelines

Capital & MainFebruary 03, 2023News

The air quality regulator for much of Southern California is risking public health by allowing emissions of ethylene oxide, a highly toxic gas associated with lymphoid and breast cancer, at levels far above the federal cancer risk guidelines for the chemical, warn environmental health experts.

F.D.A. Proposes Limits for Lead in Baby Food

The New York TimesJanuary 24, 2023News

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday proposed maximum limits for the amount of lead in baby foods like mashed fruits and vegetables and dry cereals, after years of studies revealed that many processed products contained levels known to pose a risk of neurological and developmental impairment.

How 'everywhere chemicals' help uterine fibroids grow

National GeographicJanuary 13, 2023News

Common chemicals called phthalates found in hundreds of household products have been linked to uterine fibroids—non-cancerous tumors ranging...

Voters want more protection from harmful chemicals: poll

The HillOctober 11, 2022News

Most American voters say they want more government and industry protection from toxic chemicals, a new poll has found.

Poll: Voters Agree on Need for More Protections from Chemicals

October 11, 2022Press Release

American voters overwhelmingly say they want government and industry to ensure the products they buy are free of harmful chemicals, and they are willing to pay more for it, according to a national online survey commissioned by the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Wildfire Smoke Is Hurting Pregnant People And Babies. Can California Cities Protect Them?

California Health ReportOctober 03, 2022News

Tania Pacheco-Werner put on her walking shoes. She was halfway through her first pregnancy and had just been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Her doctor’s advice? Stay active. But Pacheco-Werner lives just outside Fresno. It was summer, and well over 100 degrees. The air outside was also thick with wildfire smoke from nearby forest fires — an increasingly common occurrence due to climate change.

Women who worry about their pregnancies are more likely to give birth prematurely, study warns

Daily MailSeptember 26, 2022News

It's a normal reaction for any expectant mother. But worrying during pregnancy may raise the risk of a premature birth, a study suggested Monday. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles found those who suffered anxiety had a significantly higher risk of going into labor early.

Abortion restrictions worsen with climate change

PrismSeptember 20, 2022News

In the past few months, people across the U.S. have faced extreme climate hazards such as wildfires on the West Coast, flooding that contributed to undrinkable water in Mississippi and left hundreds homeless in eastern Kentucky, and record-breaking heat waves. Concurrently, four states have passed near-total abortion bans, and the first abortion ban passed after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade has taken effect in Indiana.

View all News