Girl, Disrupted Report Available in German
The Girl, Disrupted report is now available in German: Gestörte Weiblichkeit.

Newly Updated CHE-Fertility Online Abstracts Library
We are pleased to announce the availability of the newly updated CHE-Fertility Online Abstracts Library, a representative collection of the peer-reviewed scientific literature related to fertility, reproductive health, and the environment. The library includes nontechnical summaries of scientific studies that link environmental exposures to infertility/reduced fertility in addition to other reproductive health problems such as preterm birth, hypospadias, endometriosis, low sperm count, premature ovarian failure, prostate cancer, and others.

** We are currently seeking beta testers. If you are willing to test the library and provide us with feedback about how useful and searchable it is, please email julia@healthandenvironment.org with your input. We greatly value your insights. After all, the library is intended to serve the diverse CHE-Fertility community in all of its various efforts to protect public health from environmental exposures.

CHE-Fertility Call Updates

** An MP3 recording of the May 25 call, Elevating the Issue: the Emerging CDC National Action Plan on Infertility, is now available.

** An MP3 recording of the April 15 call, Flame Retardants: Emerging Science and Policy Considerations, co-hosted with the Women's Health and the Environment Initiative, is now available.

Events/Announcements

Congressional Briefing - Tackling Toxics: Reforming Chemical Policy and Improving Reproductive Health.
The Center for American Progress co-hosted this event on April 27, 2010 with the Reproductive Health Technologies Project and the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals. The event featured Daryl Ditz of the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families Coalition along with Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO). 75 advocates, science groups, policymakers, and congressional staffers gathered to hear why chemical policy policy reform is a reproductive health issue. Watch the video recording

Landmark Legislation Introduced to Protect the Health of American Families: Safe Chemicals Act of 2010.
As stated by the Reproductive Health Technologies Project and according to many groups, The Safe Chemicals Act of 2010 will provide long overdue reform of the 34-year-old federal law that regulates toxic chemicals, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). This new legislation would give the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stronger authority to test and regulate the 80,000 chemicals on the market today. For information about how to support this bill, please visit the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families Coalition website.
Link to CHE's new Chemical Policy Reform resource page

RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association Briefing.
In recognition of National Infertility Awareness Week, Resolve hosted a special briefing with Honorary Co-Chairs Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Debbie Wassterman Schultz on Capitol Hill today, "Infertility: What's new and what is the federal government doing about it?" The briefing highlighted what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Congress are doing to impact this public health issue now and in the future. Learn more 

Recent Publications

New report: The Health Risks of Secret Chemicals in Fragrance.
The majority of chemicals found in this report have never been assessed for safety by any publicly accountable agency, or by the cosmetics industry's self-policing review panels. Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.
[See related articles: Perfumes contain hidden harmful chemicals, environmental groups say and Scented products are so prevalent, potent they are a public health hazard]

Mother's Day blog by CHE-Fertility partner, Elizabeth Arndorfer.
There's just one thing I want for Mother's Day, and only Congress and the President can give it to me: The peace of mind that would come with reforms to protect my family from toxic chemicals. May 7, 2010.

New report: "No Silver Lining: An Investigation into Bisphenol-A in Canned Foods."
This report provides new data about the amount of BPA that could be consumed from eating canned food and drinks available in the U.S. and Canada. For No Silver Lining, we tested the food and beverage contents of 50 cans collected from 19 U.S. states and Ontario, Canada. The report reveals that BPA is a routine contaminant in canned foods. Released May 18, 2010.

New Video: Environmental Health and Choice for Earth Day.
Every day scientists are finding links between the chemicals we encounter in the environment and our reproductive health. As protectors of reproductive health, Planned Parenthood is taking a stand on this critical issue. Check out the video to learn why being Pro-Choice means caring about our environment too.

New Article: BPA-Free and Beyond: Protecting Reproductive Health from Environmental Toxins. 
Written by Sneha Barot, Senior Public Policy Associate at the Guttmacher Institute. Published in the Guttmacher Policy Review (Winter 2010, Volume 13, Number 1). 

New Report: Framing a Proactive Research Agenda to Advance Worker Health and Safety in the Nail Salon and Cosmetology Communities.
Read this new report produced by the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative that provides recommendations from a multi-stakeholder convening in April 2009 that highlighted the state of the science on occupational chemical exposures of cosmetology workers and resulting health effects, with the intention to inform, guide, and build upon current efforts in California and nationally to develop a proactive research and advocacy agenda for the salon sector

Clinical Proceedings from Planned Parenthood and ARHP.
Planned Parenthood and the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals have just released an accredited clinical monograph on Environmental Impacts on Reproductive Health. The purpose of the monograph is to provide front-line clinicians with practical guidance on environmental reproductive health issues, based on the best available evidence. See also Planned Parenthood® Green Choices fact sheets and Environmental Health Assessment Form

Pamphlet for Expecting Moms.
The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) has developed a color, folded, cross-cultural pamphlet to be given to women at Ob-Gyn appointments. This educational pamphlet for expecting moms explains environmental risks at home, in the workplace, and outdoors and is intended for use in clinics and doctors offices around the country. Contributing partners include the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA), American College of Nurse Midwives, and the V.A. women's health program, with funding from the John Merck Fund. Link to the Spanish version of the pamphlet

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.

Report: Earliest Exposures.
New tests by the Washington Toxics Coalition (WTC) reveal that children spend their first nine months in an environment that exposes them to known toxic chemicals. This new study was completed by the WTC in collaboration with the Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Center and the Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition.

Toxic Matters brochure. A brochure that highlights how to prevent exposure to toxic substances at home, in the workplace and in your community. Produced by the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE) at the University of California, San Francisco.

Reproductive Roulette, a report on declining reproductive health and dangerous chemical exposures, created by the Center for American Progress.