Clinicians and their role in reproductive environmental health

Virtually every pregnant woman in the United States has measurable levels of multiple chemicals in her body that can harm human reproduction and development. Chemical exposures during the prenatal period can have effects across the life span of individuals, ranging from short term effects such as birth defects to long term effects such as adult cancers. Thus, preventing harmful exposures incurred during the preconception and prenatal periods can have a lifetime of health benefits. Obstetricians and other reproductive health professionals are uniquely poised to intervene at key points of development for women's and children's health. To leverage this largely untapped opportunity to prevent developmental exposure to reproductive and developmental toxicants, in 2008 the University of California San Francisco's Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE) formed the From Advancing Science to Ensuring Prevention (FASTEP) Alliance. The goal of FASTEP is to secure each and everyone's right to optimal reproductive health by fostering environments that prevent exposure to potential reproductive toxicants and provide the nutritive and social sustenance necessary for healthy pregnancies, children, adults, and future generations.

This presentation will describe: (1) the results of FASTEP activities over the past 4 years to engage reproductive health professionals in the prevention of harmful environmental exposures in clinical and policy arenas; (2) preliminary data on the first empirical data gathered to assess obstetricians' beliefs, attitudes and practice about environmental health; and (3) limitations and strengths of this prevention strategy.