Take a bow! I've never witnessed more thorough and complete planning for a scientific conference. So now take a deep breath. And let it flow!

thanks! It would not be possible without your participation! LG

It is mid-afternoon Sunday and already the identified hurdle of academic vs industry/government science has been mentioned several times. This is something I/we fight in our day-to-day activism. Realizing there is no solution to this I thought it was a positve to have it acknowledged by almost each speaker.

Have break tables set up so people can get water or coffee. Have water available on the tables inside the conference room. currently - long lines at breaks,no glasses, no water.

Rhoda - thank you for the feedback. We have already asked the Summit Manager to set up two beverage/water tables for tomorrow.

There are a lot of great general toxicology slides being displayed. Wouldn't it be great if those not proprietary could be collated and placed on a server for use by those giving lectures in university courses and even in high school.

I agree. From the perspective of a "effects modifier", i also think they would even be usefull to carry around to show decisionmakers.... the alligator/human endocrine system slide would be a wonderful tool to get across to legislators why they should not dismiss such studies just because it is a reptile.

It is still difficult to get pc based laptops into the blog site. The people around me are having trouble. Any advice to pass on besides the case change on fertility summit.

Susan, you can reach the blogs from the hompage of the CHE website: http://www.healthandenvironment.org and click on the purple UCSF-CHE Fertility Summit button on the center of the homepage. Then click on the blogs link.

Susan - in order to access the internet and the blog, all of the laptops require a pre-installed wireless card; without it, the internet connection will not work (there are no ethernet cable hookups in the room).

I wasn't clear enough. They can't get onto the network at all. The computer detects the network and has a good signal, but won't let them in.

Susan, will see if the UCSF tech staff have any suggestions for PC users to connect to the internet.

Error message is that the network is not assigning IP address or cannot revew the IP address.

PLEASE NOTE: A tech person (named Desmond) will be available at noon today at the table near the entrance to the auditorium to help folks who are unable to get onto the internet.

General Question re: effects of low-dose estrogens on early fetal development. There is a current movement among reproductive health professionals to prescribe hormonal contraception to sexually active women regardless of where they are in their cycles. I.e. we used to advise women to wait until their next menstruation to start their oral contraceptives but now we prescribe them mid-cycle without regard to possible pregnancy. This is to avoid the pregnancies that occur while women are waiting to get their periods. In light of all the data we are seeing in this conference about the effects of low dose estrogens on early fetal development, what is the potential risk to the early pregnancyf from exposure to relatively high dose synthetic estrogens? Shouldb'e we be talking about this exposure too?

Susan, I'm doing some research on effects of early fetal ethinyl estradiol exposure in a rat model in my lab. We're treating the rats during the first third of gestation with doses predicted to mimic oral contraceptive doses (~35 ug/day) in humans. We examined a broad range of endpoints too numerous to list here but the two significant findings were fetal loss (not surprising) and changes in estrogen receptors in a specific brain region involved in reproductive physiology/behavior. These latter data are preliminary because they're based on a small sample size so we are following up. I'd be happy to talk with you about the other endpoints we looked at offline. - Andrea Gore, andrea.gore@mail.utexas.edu

It's great that community activists/advocates, researchers and clinicians are all here listening and learning together. While it was generally recognized that all of these community types(and more) are needed to effect change and improve health in this field,it would have helpful to have presentations that specifically discuss how to create and organize such collaborations and partnerships. For example, I would like to hear what different groups learned from each other and how it changed how they saw their own work.

As Rex Hess brought up, would it be possible to provide (some) slides of presenter to the participants?

I would like to add my congratulations to Alison, Mary, Linda and their colleagues for the level of excellence of this confernce. My question: Will there be one place where we will have access to all the presentations after the conference? Thank you, Lisa Rosenthal- The American Fertility Association- Lisa@TheAFA.org

Congratulations to Alison and her colleagues at UCSF for beginning a new synthesis and dialogue about a critically important topic. I wonder if the scientific experts might consider how their knowledge and methods could be applied to better identify which chemicals are more likely to cause the kinds of perturbations and effects that are being discussed, as well as which are not. I think it is fair to say that the assessment and regulatory programs for chemicals in the US are not effective. Many people are discussing how to improve them. The science community could make an important contribution to this by helping us figure out how we can best identify both the "bad" actors and those likely to be "good" actors. This could support public policies as well as purchasing decisions by entities that use chemicals and by individuals. For this policy purpose, we need methods that can be applied broadly. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who is interested in this aspect.

Can someone point me toward the organizations and coalitions already working on issues of chemical exposure and fertility? Thanks!

Please request that the many different groups represented at this meeting send by email their website to the organizers and then send this list to all attendees.

Seems to me that there's a white elephant in the room, sitting there, being ignored. We're discussing many different factors in the environment, some which can be avoided, many which cannot. What is not being discussed or presented in any form is the fertility drugs that we take when trying to conceive. What are we going to learn about Chlomid, perganol, etc.? It turns out, maybe nothing, if the drugs aren't being studied. Can we say "what we know" about these drugs? Do we know anything different now than from 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago? If we can do rat and mice studies that look at transgenerational effects, are there studies being done on the fertility drugs, so that we know as much as possible? Do we know how these drugs will affect our children, as people, then in their reproductive years? Are we going to suffer the shame of having a DES situation 10, 15, 20 years from now, simply because we didn't look at the far reaching affects of these drugs? We are told as patients that the drugs are safe. It turns out that many of the cosmetics that we use aren't safe, how can such a blanket statement be made, with any sense of being comprehensive, about fertility drugs?

This comment and question is around the importance on "educating, building awareness, giving messages" to the public or in general to society and expect action... I pesonally have learned from experience that taking information to the public and working to build awareness and/or consciousness to the point that you can also create leadership is not necessarily an easy task... For the same reason, it is important to share with you that taking the message and expecting that basic English or any other language will not necessarily provide people what they really either are interested or feel they need to know... Therefore, I want to pose an example: As you know, some years back, EPA worked heavily in the Tobacco translation to Spanish language of "Second Hand Smoke" awareness. When preparing the translation, there was and still is expected that the spanish speakers understand that "Humo Segunda Mano" would provide awareness... It actually did not in a large percentage in our communities, much less in the rural and migrant and seasonal farmworkers; because if you really translate "Humo Segunda Mano," (as how it is in Spanish to English) it also literally translates to "Smoke from the Second Hand"... My question and firm statement is that we need to be carefull in the sense of really just using terms that might mean something for some communities and their languages, but in this case: one being Spanish, has not. I will make more of a meaning if you really use terms that will work within the context of what our communities will understand... Visuals, role plays, people from the community utilizing innovative and creative forms of communication that can give attention, build awareness and then also provide support to take action is important... My question, is this at all considered, when people/experts say they have community participation or are people still being used for purposes of research and then community reacts? I ask due to experience...

Hola Allison, Gracias por invitarme a este evento que ha sido no solo muy educativo, tambien me ha dado muchas ideas en como asegurar que se continua trabajando en nuestra comunidad para lograr cambios al respeto a nuestros derechos humanos!!! Tu insistencia en que viniera y el apoyo a que llegara a este evento ha logrado que de antencion a las multiples intereses e investigaciones y sus resultados... El haberme invitado ayudo a darle aun mas visibilidad a algunos de nuestros problemas, necesidades y tambien a que nosotras en nuestras comunidades estamos trabajando para llevar el mensaje y desarrollar conciencia y planear para tomar accion y que se aseguren nuestros derechos como seres humanos. Gracias por las horas que dedicaste para convencerme que era importante que participara en este evento... Gracias, tambien a las fundaciones que patrocinaron que yo pudiera venir a participar. Comunicare esto a nuestra membresia a nuestras campesinas y sus familias... Por la Participacion de Lideres Campesinas,