Healthy pregnancies: What do frogs and mice have to do with it?

BACKGROUND: Should reproductive health providers, policy makers and the public act to prevent exposure to a chemical that causes male frogs to resemble females, makes mice unable to bear a healthy litter, and results in humans having a slightly elevated level of risk of spontaneous abortion? Weaving the scientific data into a coherent signal is a challenge that must be overcome if we are to take meaningful action to prevent harm. The University of California San Francisco Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE) undertook a project, Navigating the Scientific Evidence to Improve Prevention, to develop a transparent methodology to efficiently vet, frame and synthesize the scientific evidence evaluating the environment and reproductive health that is consistent with preventing harmful exposures. METHODS: PRHE formed an interdisciplinary group of 20 scientists and advocates; conducted a literature review and compiled examples of existing efforts to inform the process; developed an outline of the relevant issues to be vetted, including but not limited to: the interpretation of data from animal, toxicological, pharmacological, human and ecosystem health studies, regulatory and other local, national and international government bodies, and the scientific basis for recommendations for prevention; and convened a meeting of collaborators. RESULTS: Results to date of this effort to provide reproductive health professionals with a guide to transforming emerging scientific discoveries about the role of the environment on reproductive health outcomes into healthy pregnancies, healthy children and the health of future generations will be presented.