Author: PRHE

PRHE’s 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 environment.

What Biden’s “Modernizing Regulatory Review” memo means for EPA and public health

~ PRHE

President Biden’s “Modernizing Regulatory Review” memorandum foreshadows important changes to come in how the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other regulatory agencies are able to conduct business. The memo indicates an intention to reduce institutional constraints on regulatory agencies, enabling them to issue regulations more quickly and with less second-guessing from other parts of … Continue reading What Biden’s “Modernizing Regulatory Review” memo means for EPA and public health

National Academies of Sciences issues scathing rebuke of EPA’s TSCA systematic review method

~ PRHE

NAS Recommends EPA Adopt PRHE’s Navigation Guide and Other Scientifically Rigorous Methods to Evaluate Chemical Risks SAN FRANCISCO - UCSF’s Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment’s (PRHE) systematic review method called the Navigation Guide was recommended by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Report, “The Use of Systematic Review in EPA’s … Continue reading National Academies of Sciences issues scathing rebuke of EPA’s TSCA systematic review method

How PRHE supports environmental justice through science

~ PRHE

For too long, the health ramifications of pollution and toxic chemicals have fallen disproportionately on communities of color, so the Biden administration’s commitment to address environmental injustices is a welcome development. PRHE advised the Biden transition team on ways to improve chemical policy and return science, health, and environmental justice to the forefront of EPA’s … Continue reading How PRHE supports environmental justice through science

The researchers behind the headlines: Who are PRHE’s Clinical Research Coordinators and what do they do?

~ PRHE ~ 1 Comment

Versions of this post appear in both English and Spanish languages below. Research is a major focus of the UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, and a big part of our research focuses on data collected from pregnant women and children. But where does that data come from? Who collects all of it … Continue reading The researchers behind the headlines: Who are PRHE’s Clinical Research Coordinators and what do they do?

How EPA’s method for assessing study quality is designed to exclude critical evidence

~ PRHE ~ 1 Comment

Rules and regulations that govern our air, water, food, and the products in our homes should be based on the best available scientific evidence. EPA, however, is using a faulty systematic review method that can exclude critical evidence and have negative consequences for public health. One vital step in a systematic review is to assess … Continue reading How EPA’s method for assessing study quality is designed to exclude critical evidence

Learn how toxics are affecting this generation and the next

~ PRHE

Join us for a new webinar series that will provide you with the latest science to help your patients Learn from top scientists and experts about the impacts of environmental exposures and toxics on reproductive health, pregnancy, and development. “Generation Chemical: How Environmental Exposures Are Affecting Reproductive Health and the Environment” is a dynamic webinar … Continue reading Learn how toxics are affecting this generation and the next

10 ways to avoid toxic chemicals

~ PRHE ~ 1 Comment

Versions of this post appear in both English and Spanish languages below. The science is clear: harmful chemicals in our environment put healthy pregnancies and fetal development at risk. To help health-care professionals and their patients better understand how chemicals affect health—and what they can do about it—UCSF’s Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment … Continue reading 10 ways to avoid toxic chemicals

Yesterday’s flame retardants in today’s bodies

~ PRHE

Versions of this post appear in both English and Spanish languages below. Although phased out about 15 years ago, toxic flame-retardant chemicals, called polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), are still showing up in high levels among pregnant women and their fetuses in California, according to our study published on July 22, 2020, in Scientific Reports. In … Continue reading Yesterday’s flame retardants in today’s bodies

Texas ignores dangers of ethylene oxide in flawed report

~ PRHE

In 2016, after careful analysis, and extensive internal and external peer review, and public comment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that inhalation of ethylene oxide is “carcinogenic to humans.” Despite no new evidence that would alter EPA’s findings, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) just finalized a dangerously flawed report claiming that … Continue reading Texas ignores dangers of ethylene oxide in flawed report

TSCA is 4

~ PRHE

Congress amended the law that is supposed to protect people from dangerous chemicals. EPA’s current leadership is exploiting the law’s loopholes and making a mockery of it. Four years ago, Congress passed and President Obama signed legislation to amend the nation's Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that regulates chemicals in commerce, changes that were 40 … Continue reading TSCA is 4