Toxic substances are chemicals and elements that can harm your health. Everyone is exposed to toxic substances every day. By reducing your exposure to these substances, you can protect your health and your family’s health.
Exposure to toxic substances can harm the reproductive systems of women and men and make it harder to get pregnant. Developing fetuses, infants, children, pre-teens and teenagers are especially vulnerable. Being exposed to even small amounts of toxic substances during important times of development can lead to disease early in life, later in life, or even across generations.
Some toxic substances build up in our bodies. This build-up can affect our health and future pregnancies long after we have been exposed. This is why the recommendations here are designed for women, men and children. They apply to all of us, whether or not we have children, are pregnant or want to have children in the future.