Good afternoon. We look forward to your questions and comments.

For Pauline: Can you provide more information about the animal "menopause" studies? I am asking because few species other than primates have a true menopause, and the mechanisms for reproductive aging are very different among species. Please comment upon how well you think the animal studies have adequately modeled the question of environmental toxicants and menopause.

Just a comment about studies with small sample sizes (mentioned by Pauline Mendola) It is important to remember that small sample sizes are only an issue if a study finds *no* statistically significant effect (i.e. the lack of effect may be due to low power). Small studies that *do* find statistically significant effects have enough power!!! - i.e. there is no sample size issue!!

pat hunt what receptor is involved in the BPA response and are levels environmental?and is it BPA or its metabolites?

For Dr Greenlee, Just a note that while ESC may be available from amniotic fluid, most women having amniocentesis are suspected of having a problem- they may not represent the norm. As such, there are profound ethical questions raised with the idea of harvesting ESC via amniocentesis from healthy women as the risk of miscarriage due to amniocentesis is 1 in 200.

Pat Hunt- and David Keefe: Pat Hunt's studies showing that exposure to BPA during oocyte formation in utero results in abnormal meiosis, i.e. chromosome segregration, is very important since a similar effect in humans will result in Down's syndrome and miscarrages. In light of David Keefe's showing that arsenite induces meiotic abnormalities, could you comment on the fact that the Sprague derived Rat, which is resistant to several effects of BPA, including on reduction in litter size, has a history of genetic selection for high resistance to arsenic (see www.reproductivegenetics.org for more details).