274944 “Identification of Environmental Chemicals in Pregnant Women”

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 2:50 PM - 3:10 PM

Tracey Woodruff, PhD , Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, Oakland, CA
     
Proper development of the human fetus requires a tight balance of endocrine hormones. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals can perturb this balance which can result in pathophysiological consequences that can extend to adulthood. Only about 300 of many thousands of environmental chemicals used in commerce are currently being bio-monitored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Many of the unmeasured chemicals are expected to have endocrine disrupting properties. This session will present research findings using a new analytic technique using time-of-flight liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (TOF LC-MS), which provides a more systematic, agnostic, and comprehensive approach to identify chemicals which have not been targeted for analysis in previous studies. We use this methodology to identify novel, previously unmeasured, chemicals in pregnant women from Northern California. The TOF LC-MS and will give will give us unprecedented insights into fetal exposures. The results of this novel approach to bio-monitoring will be presented.

Learning Areas:
Environmental health sciences

Learning Objectives:
Explain the need for improved environmental chemical monitoring. List new and emerging contaminants found in a vulnerable sub-population.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Director of the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco and the Director. I have done extensive research and policy development on environmental health issues, with a particular emphasis on early-life development. I am the principal investigator of this project, evaluating prenatal exposures to environmental chemicals.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4297.0: What's in our food and our bodies: Using new technologies to test for known and unknown chemicals