• Background Information/Resources
• CHE Blog
• Listen to the MP3 recording
• Link to Sarah Dunagan's blog about this call, Fueling the fire? How flame retardants might be doing more harm than good.
• Download the speakers' PowerPoint Presentation

Since the 1970s, flame retardants have been added to a variety of consumer products including electronics, foam furniture, and children’s pajamas. These persistent pollutants are ubiquitous in the environment and accumulate in wildlife, pets, and human blood and breast milk. Animal studies indicate that flame retardants can affect neurological development, thyroid function, and reproduction. How might flame retardants impact human health? Are some people disproportionately exposed? Do less toxic alternatives exist? How can the emerging research inform chemicals policy reform?

CHE-Fertility Working Group and the Women’s Health and Environment Initiative (WHEI), a program of Women's Voices for the Earth, hosted this joint call on Thursday, April 15 to explore these questions. On this call, we discussed the latest science linking flame retardants to reproductive health and development, and opportunities for reducing exposure.

This call was moderated by Sarah Dunagan, Staff Scientist, Silent Spring Institute.

Featured speakers included:

• Ami Zota, Sc.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, University of California, San Francisco
• Kim Harley, Ph.D., Associate Director for Health Effects, Center for Children's Environmental Health Research, University of California, Berkeley
• Julie Herbstman, Ph.D., Sc.M., Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health, Columbia University
• Arlene Blum, Ph.D., Visiting Scholar, University of California, Berkeley and Executive Director, Green Science Policy Institute