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

'Polluted' babies, millions dead: Scientists sound alarm on global pollution

USA TodayMay 18, 2022News

New research finds widespread chemical exposure in the modern world. A recent U.S. study of 171 pregnant women found more than 9-in-10 had potentially harmful chemicals in their bodies. While exact health effects are unknown, researchers worry such exposures could be harmful and driving up rates of human disease and developmental disorders. Meanwhile, another report found air and water pollution now causes 1-in-6 deaths worldwide. Experts say it's a crisis akin to climate change and needs new global solutions.

Pollution Caused One in Six Deaths World-Wide in 2019, Study Says

The Wall Street JournalMay 17, 2022News

The number of deaths world-wide caused by industrial pollution, including from chemicals and the burning of fossil fuels, rose between 2015 and 2019 even as the toll exacted by household pollutants and unsafe drinking water fell, new research shows.

Fossil Fuels Aren’t Just Harming the Planet. They’re Making Us Sick

Inside Climate NewsMay 12, 2022News

For years, researchers have warned that chemical pollutants tied to fossil fuels have become so pervasive that they would be impossible for anyone to avoid. A study released earlier this week may be the first indication of how widely some chemicals have spread. Researchers found multiple classes of potentially harmful chemicals where they’ve never been measured before: in the bodies of pregnant women.

Pregnant American Women Are Facing Higher Exposures to Chemicals

U.S. News & World ReportMay 10, 2022News

Exposure to potentially harmful chemicals is on the rise among pregnant women in the United States, a new study warns.

Chemical exposures during pregnancy rose over last decade

E&E NewsMay 10, 2022News

A national study looking at women who were pregnant in the last 12 years found that exposure to chemicals from plastics and pesticides has increased over time, even as some compounds have been banned.

Study of Pregnant Women Finds Increasing Chemical Exposure

UCSF NewsMay 09, 2022Press Release

A national study that enrolled a highly diverse group of pregnant women over 12 years found rising exposure to chemicals from plastics and pesticides that may be harmful to development.

Former Officials Challenge Freedhoff’s Claims On PFAS Data Availability

Inside EPAApril 29, 2022News

Three former EPA officials are renewing calls for the agency to use TSCA authority to order Chemours to conduct new toxicity testing of dozens of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), pushing back on claims from EPA’s chemicals chief that the data “already exist” even as they sue over the agency’s failure to order the tests.

EPA Criticized for How It Selects Data to Evaluate Chemical Risk

Bloomberg LawApril 20, 2022News

A strategy the EPA is using to decide what scientific data it will use to decide whether a chemical’s potential to harm people or the environment is so great it must be regulated could ignore potential harms, academic scientists and an environmental group said Tuesday.

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