- Full (HTML) - Full (PDF) - Related EHP Articles - PubMed:Related Articles - PubMed:Citation - Cited in PMC - Purchase This Issue

Christina C. Lawson,¹ Barbara Grajewski,¹ George P. Daston,² Linda M. Frazier,³ Dennis Lynch,¹ Melissa McDiarmid,⁴ Eisuke Murono,⁵ Sally D. Perreault,⁶ Wendie A. Robbins,⁷ Megan A.K. Ryan,⁸ Michael Shelby,⁹ and Elizabeth A. Whelan¹

¹National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; ²Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; ³Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health and Department of Obstetrics Gynecology, University of Kansas, Wichita, Kansas, USA; ⁴Occupational Health Program, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; ⁵National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; ⁶National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA; ⁷Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA; ⁸Department of Defense Center for Deployment Health Research, San Diego, California, USA; ⁹National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

Abstract
The initial goal of occupational reproductive health research is to effectively study the many toxicants, physical agents, and biomechanical and psychosocial stressors that may constitute reproductive hazards in the workplace. Although the main objective of occupational reproductive researchers and clinicians is to prevent recognized adverse reproductive outcomes, research has expanded to include a broader spectrum of chronic health outcomes potentially affected by reproductive toxicants. To aid in achieving these goals, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, along with its university, federal, industry, and labor colleagues, formed the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) in 1996. NORA resulted in 21 research teams, including the Reproductive Health Research Team (RHRT) . In this report, we describe progress made in the last decade by the RHRT and by others in this field, including prioritizing reproductive toxicants for further study ; facilitating collaboration among epidemiologists, biologists, and toxicologists ; promoting quality exposure assessment in field studies and surveillance ; and encouraging the design and conduct of priority occupational reproductive studies. We also describe new tools for screening reproductive toxicants and for analyzing mode of action. We recommend considering outcomes such as menopause and latent adverse effects for further study, as well as including exposures such as shift work and nanomaterials. We describe a broad domain of scholarship activities where a cohesive system of organized and aligned work activities integrates 10 years of team efforts and provides guidance for future research. Key words: communication, environmental exposure, occupational exposure, reproduction, research design, risk factors. Environ Health Perspect 114:435-441 (2006) . doi:10.1289/ehp.8458 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 26 October 2005]

Address correspondence to C.C. Lawson, NIOSH, 4676 Columbia Pkwy., R-15, Cincinnati, OH 45226-1998 USA. Telephone: (513) 841-4171. Fax: (513) 841-4486. E-mail: clawson@cdc.gov

We recognize current and past members of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) National Occupational Research Agenda Reproductive Health Research Team (formerly Fertility and Pregnancy Abnormalities Team) who served on the team between 1996 and 2005.

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of NIOSH. This document has been reviewed in accordance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) policy and approved for publication. Approval does not signify that the contents necessarily reflect EPA policy.

G.P. Daston is employed by Procter & Gamble ; L.M. Frazier has received payment for giving testimony on the accuracy of material safety data sheets in a legal case. The other authors declare they have no competing financial interests.

Received 1 July 2005 ; accepted 26 October 2005.