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Collaborative on Health and the Environment's
Fertility/Reproductive Health Working Group
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| E-Bulletin November 23, 2009 |
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| This e-bulletin lists news and journal articles, organizational reports, calls for proposals, upcoming events and other items related to fertility, reproductive health and the environment. E-bulletins are archived and searchable on our website: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/working_groups/fertility |
CHE-Fertility Highlights
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Save the Date for the December CHE-Fertility/Partnership Call, To Ban or Not to Ban: A Review of Atrazine from Both Sides of the Atlantic
When: Tuesday December 8, 2009
10:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00 p.m. Eastern time
If the same science is available on both sides of the Atlantic, why would Europe choose to ban the use of atrazine while the US has not? Join CHE as we explore this question and other pesticides issues with speakers from both Europe and the US. We will discuss the findings of the Agricultural Health Study recently conducted by NIH and the EPA, look closer at the scientific literature addressing atrazine and the implications for human health, particularly reproductive health, and conclude with a conversation with colleagues from the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) in Europe about pesticides, including their choice to ban atrazine.
Featured speakers will include:
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Jane Hoppin, ScD, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Chronic Disease Epidemiology Group Jason Rohr, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of South Florida Genon Jensen, Executive Director, Health and Environment Alliance
RSVP for this CallMore information about this callDownload the MP3 Recording from the Nov. 11 CHE Call --
Navigating the Scientific Evidence to Ensure PreventionIn
August, CHE leaders, scientists, clinicians and community partners
participated in the workshop Navigating the Science to Improve
Prevention. CHE hosted this follow-up conversation about the efforts
being undertaken to translate the emerging science in environmental
reproductive health into timely action in clinical and policy arenas.Listen to the audio recording
New video: The Male Predicament. The Male Predicament is the informative and compelling lecture that Dr. Theo Colborn has delivered across the U.S. and overseas. Using scientific facts, photos and a touch of humor, it describes in detail how males are susceptible to endocrine disrupting chemicals. Link to the videoNew report: Disinfectant Overkill. Scientific studies have shown that disinfectant chemicals have been linked to chronic health impacts like asthma, hormone imbalance, potential reduced fertility, and immune system problems. Women's Voices for the Earth. Link to the report[See a related article: Cleaning supplies can contaminate classroom air]New report: Earliest Exposures. New tests by the Washington
Toxics Coalition reveal that children spend their first nine months in an
environment that exposes them to known toxic chemicals. WTC
tested nine pregnant women, from Washington, Oregon, and California, for
chemicals including bisphenol A, phthalates, mercury, and "Teflon chemicals."
The first-of-its kind study tested blood and urine from pregnant women during
their second trimester of pregnancy and found their bodies contaminated with
chemicals found in a wide variety of consumer products. This
new study was completed by the Washington Toxics Coalition in
collaboration with the Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Center and the
Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition. Link to the reportNew brochure: Toxic Matters. A new guide that highlights how to prevent exposure to toxic substances
at home, in the workplace and in your community. Toxic Matters is a publication of the University of California, San Francisco
Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE), From Advancing Science to Ensuring Prevention (FASTEP). FASTEP is a project of PRHE and an alliance of academic, government and non-governmental partners spanning the fields of reproductive, environmental, occupational and pediatric health and toxicology. The goal of FASTEP is to secure each and everyone's right to optimal reproductive health by fostering environemnts that prevent exposure to toxic substances and support healthy pregnancies, children, adults and future generations.
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. To learn more and download a pdf version of Toxic Matters, click here.
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Media Spotlight
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AMA Endorses Resolution in Support of The Endocrine Society Statement on Endocrine-disrupting Chemicals
11/10/09:
The American Medical Association's (AMA) House of Delegates adopted a
resolution calling on the AMA to work with the federal government to
enact new federal policies to decrease the public's exposure to
endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The resolution,
introduced by The Endocrine Society, reflects the findings and
recommendations of The Endocrine Society's peer-reviewed Scientific Statement on EDCs released by the Society this past June. Adoption of this
resolution means that it is now AMA policy and is wholly supported by
the House of Medicine. Read more
Also: The Endocrine Society Praises the California Medical Association The
Endocrine Society lauded the California Medical Association (CMA) on
Ocober 19, 2009 for supporting greater advocacy and collaboration in
decreasing public exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. The
resolution reflects the findings and recommendations of The Endocrine
Society's peer-reviewed Scientific Statement on endocrine-disrupting chemicals released by the Society this past June.
Link to the press release
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Announcements
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A daily news feed with these articles and announcements is now
available on CHE's website:
http://www.healthandenvironment.org/news/announce.
Job opening: Virginia.
The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials has an opening for Director, Environmental Health to be responsible for directing policy development and analysis, and program implementation on environmental health issues that may include issues such as climate change, natural disasters, land use, healthy housing, chemical exposure, food safety, safe water, and environmental health infrastructure and capacity.
Read more
Job opening: Washington, DC.
Earthjustice, the nonprofit law firm for the environment, currently has an opening for a Advocacy/Communications Campaign Manager.
Read more
Job openings: Atlanta, Georgia.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has several openings on its leadership team.
Read more
Job opening: San Francisco. The
Women's Foundation of California seeks a development and communications officer as the primary writer of external communications and the
steward of their online community.
Read more
Job opening: Washington, DC. The
nationally accredited journalism program of The School of Communication
at American University is seeking an experienced journalist with a
strong record/expertise in health, science, and/or environmental
journalism for a tenure-track position beginning in August 2010.
Read more
Job opening: Wenatchee, Washington.
The Chelan-Douglas Health District has an opening for an environmental health specialist to conduct routine public health inspections, review facility designs for code compliance and more. The position will stay open until filled. Read more
U.S. EPA makes available data on compliance with hazardous waste, air regulations.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released new information on EPA and state enforcement of hazardous waste and air regulations. In addition, the EPA posted data that allows the public, for the first time, to compare toxic releases with compliance data from facilities. Read more
EPA proposes new pesticide labeling to control spray drift and protect human health.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has rolled out proposed guidance for new pesticide labeling to reduce off-target spray and dust drift. The new instructions, when implemented, will improve the clarity and consistency of pesticide labels and help prevent harm from spray drift. Read more
Million Baby Crawl events.
Babies everywhere are "crawling to Washington" and saying NO to toxic chemicals found in household products. Attend your local Crawl to Action event or create a new event for your community. Read more
Comments invited: Healthy People 2020.
The US Department of Health and Human Services invites comments on the proposed Healthy People 2020 objectives. Comments will be accepted through December 31, 2009. Read more
Call for proposals: Environmental Justice Small Grants Program.
The primary purposes of proposed projects should be to develop an understanding of environmental and public health issues and to identify ways to address these issues at the local level, and educate and empower the community. Applications are due January 8, 2010. Read more
2nd Safe Cosmetics video.
Lead in lipstick, carcinogens in baby shampoo -- you've heard the rumors, now get the real story behind what's in your cosmetics and what you can do about it. Watch the second video released by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. Read more
Share your stories, successes, and visions for environmental health.
The Health & Environmental Funders Network has launched a new project to highlight and archive the diverse and exciting work that has happened over the past ten years and capture people's visions and hopes for the next ten years. Read more
Call for proposals: Environmental influences during windows of susceptibility in breast cancer risk.
NIEHS and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) solicit cooperative
agreement grant applications from institutions to conduct basic
laboratory or ancillary research projects involving existing
populations or clinical studies focused on gene-environment
interactions, as well as the molecular mechanisms engaged, during
specific windows of susceptibility that have the potential of modifying
a womans lifetime risk for developing breast cancer. Letters of
application are due December 30, 2009. Read more
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News, Science and Other Resources
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Below you will find recent news headlines, studies, and organizational reports - gleaned from the CHE Fertility Online Library hosted by Environmental Health News and the CHE daily news feed.
NIEHS Director: "We kind of jump from the proverbial fry pan into the fire" when replacing chemicals.
As head of the federal institute examining environmental health, Linda
Birnbaum and her staff are taking on many controversial topics,
including Bisphenol A and new flame retardants. She is concerned about
what role chemicals play in cancer and other diseases. Environmental Health News. 20 November 2009.
Group: Male fish are producing eggs in our rivers.
A citizens' group has asked Congress to protect human health from
contaminants that are causing male fish to produce eggs. The "intersex"
condition is believed to be caused by chemicals that disrupt the
endocrine system. Charleston State Journal, West Virginia. 19 November 2009.
Can plastic change your sex?This week, mothers all over the world woke up and wondered whether
their little boys were increasingly behaving like little girls. The
cause for this sudden concern: a new study claiming chemicals in
everyday plastics might be feminizing their brains. Forbes. Opinion, 19 November 2009.
Toxicants in plastic 'feminise boys.'Chemicals in plastics alter the brains of baby boys making them "more
feminine", say US researchers. Males exposed to more phthalates in the
womb went on to be less likely to play with boys' toys like cars or to
join in rough and tumble games. The research adds to concerns about the
safety of phthalates, found in vinyl flooring and PVC shower curtains. BBC. 16 November 2009.
Boys exposed to phthalates during pregnancy are less likely to
choose "boy typical" toys such as trucks, suggesting that phthalates
can alter brain development and gender-specific behaviors. This is
the first study to suggest a link between prenatal phthalate exposure
and male behavior. The results indicate that phthalates can interfere
with testosterone during development leading to a less masculinized
brain. 16 November 2009. More...
BPA, sexual problems may be linked.
Chinese factory workers exposed to huge amounts of bisphenol A had a
substantially higher risk of sexual dysfunction, according to a new
study that is expected to add more urgency to the question of the
plastic chemical's safety. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin. 11 November 2009.
Something scary in the pantry.
Your body is probably home to a chemical called bisphenol A, or BPA.
It's a synthetic estrogen that United States factories now use in
everything from plastics to epoxies - to the tune of six pounds per
American per year. That's a lot of estrogen. New York Times. Opinion, 8 November 2009.
[Registration Required]
Very weak magnetic fields lower sperm quality. A new epidemiological study showing that extended
exposure to weak magnetic fields as low as 1.6 mG (0.16 µT) can have negative effects on sperm quality was published on November 6 in Reproductive Toxicology. Covered by Microwave News.
Red, processed meats linked to prostate cancer.
Researchers at the National Cancer Institute found that among more than
175,000 men they followed for nine years, those who ate the most red
and processed meats had heightened risks of developing any stage of
prostate cancer, or advanced cancer in particular. Reuters Health. 6 November 2009.
Dominican town blames U.S. power company AES for birth defects.
A civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in Delaware charges that toxic levels
of coal ash waste generated by Virginia-based AES Corp. and dumped at
the Arroyo Barril port in the Dominican Republic has resulted in
miscarriages and babies with cranial deformities, organs outside their
bodies, and missing limbs. Miami Herald, Florida. 6 November 2009.
Soy foods: eating too much of a good thing might be bad, scientists say.
Americans consume over $4 billion of soy foods each year because of
their many health benefits. But new studies suggest that eating large
amounts of soy's estrogen-mimicking compounds might reduce fertility in
women, trigger early puberty and disrupt development of fetuses and
children. Environmental Health News. 3 November 2009.
Falling fertility.
At a time when people fear the consequences for an overcrowded planet,
the decline in fertility is surprising and somewhat reassuring. It
means that worries about a population explosion are themselves being
exploded--and it carries a lesson about how to solve the problems of
climate change. Economist. Editorial, 31 October 2009.
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Upcoming Events
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Online Calendar. These and more upcoming events are listed in the CHE-Fertility searchable calendar.
1) Conference/Seminar: PPTOXII: Role of Environmental Stressors in the Development of Origins of Disease
Monday through Thursday, December 7 - 10, 2009
Miami Beach, Florida
at Loews Hotel
Sponsor: Society of Toxicology
Fetal and early postnatal development constitutes the most
vulnerable time period of human life, in regard to adverse effects of
environmental hazards. Subtle effects during development can lead to
functional deficits and increased disease risk later in life. This
hypothesis, which states that environmental exposures lead to altered
programming leading to increased susceptibility to disease/dysfunction
later in life, has gathered much support from both experimental and
epidemiological studies. The objective of the conference is to examine
the animal and human data supporting this hypothesis of a developmental
basis of disease, disease by disease, in order to review the current
state of the literature and to identify mechanisms for the effects as
well as to identify research gaps and challenges and to integrate the
basic and applied science. Because of its International nature, the
multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary nature of the speakers, and the
attendance and participation of students from multiple disciplines, we
expect this meeting to stimulate collaborations that will lead to the
development and validation of biomarkers of exposure and disease
susceptibility, improvement of exposure assessment and extrapolation
across species and routes of exposure.
Price: see the registration information on the website
Visit the website
Contact: Society of Toxicology headquarters, 703-438-3115
2) Training/Workshop: Introduction to Managing Environmental Data with Microsoft Access 2007
Wednesday and Thursday, December 9 - 10, 2009
8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Kirkland, Washington
at Yarrow Bay Office Park - One North Building, 10604 NE 38th Place, Suite 118
Sponsor: Northwest Environmental Training Center
This course is part of a series and is immediately followed by the
Managing Environmental Data With Microsoft Access 2007, Applying the
Tools workshop, December 11, 2009. Participants may register for either
course individually or both courses. A discount applies when
registering for both courses. After completing this course,
participants will be able to 1) understand concepts of database
structure and design, 2) create relationships between tables, 3) import
and export datasheets, 4) perform simple queries on multiple tables, 5)
construct and customize forms for retrieving data and 6) build macros
for automating tasks.
Price: $495 or $395 for Native American Tribes; nonprofits;
government agencies; students; and NAEP, NEBC, NWAEP members; an
early-bird discount of $20 is available until November 6, 2009.
Visit the website
Contact: NETC, 206-762-1976 or info@nwetc.org
3) Conference/Seminar: 2nd All Africa Environmental Health Congress
Monday through Thursday, May 24 - 27, 2010
Lilongwe, Malawi
at the Crossroads Hotel
Sponsor: International Federation of Environmental Health (IFEH) in
collaboration with the Government of Malawi and the University of Malawi
The conference theme is "Environmental Health - Key to a Better Life
for All", and the vision of this congress is the improvement of the
standards of environmental health in Africa. Objectives are to 1) raise
the profile of environmental health in Africa, 2) share best practices
of environmental health services delivery in Africa, 3) enhance
inter-country collaboration in environmental health practice, 4)
address the training needs of environmental health, 4) promote the
environmental health needs of children in Africa and 5) promote
environmental health research.
Price: see the Registration page
Visit the website
Contact: 265 187 7592 or washted@poly.ac.mw
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The Collaborative on Health and the Environment offers this information as a service but does not endorse any of the events, articles or announcements.
Please email Julia Varshavsky, CHE's Fertility/Reproductive Health Working Group Coordinator, at julia@healthandenvironment.org with any questions, comments, or suggestions.
If you would like to join the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) and the Fertility/Reproductive Health Working Group, please complete the application on the CHE website: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/application. Joining CHE means receiving up to four email messages a month from the CHE National listserv. CHE costs nothing to join and the benefit is shared information and opportunities for further engagement, if you choose. Be sure to mark that you want to join the CHE Fertility/Reproductive Health Working Group at the bottom of the application.
Julia Varshavsky
Collaborative on Health and the Environment
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