The Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction. A. R. Iannucci, J. A. Moore, and A. L. Walker, Sciences International
Recently public concerns regarding the effects of chemical exposure on reproductive and child development health effects have increased. The concerns are based on: an infertility rate of about 5 (10% in couples who wish to have children; unsuccessful completion of about 50% of all pregnancies; major birth defects in 3 (5% of newborns; and a reported, but unconfirmed, drop in human sperm counts during recent decades. To address the impact of environmental chemical exposures on reproductive and developmental outcomes, the Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction (CERHR) was established by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in 1998. CERHR was established to provide a uniform, scientific process for the evaluation of reproductive health effects associated with chemical exposures. The major steps of the CERHR evaluation process are (1) Nomination of chemicals for review, (2) Selection of chemicals for evaluation by a Core Committee of scientists, (3) Critical review of toxicity data by Expert Panels of scientists, (4) Meeting of Expert Panels to reach consensus, and (5) Preparation of monographs. The process allows input from the public, including private citizens and individuals from government, academia, or industry. The public has the opportunity to nominate chemicals for review, recommend scientists to serve on Expert Panels, and provide comments on monographs. In addition to expert scientific review of chemicals, CERHR serves the public as an information resource. A CERHR web site was developed to provide information about nominated chemicals, access to monographs, and information about various reproductive health topics. The web site can be accessed at: http://cerhr.niehs.nih.gov/. This presentation provides a detailed description of the CERHR process.
Work supported by the National Toxicology Program and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
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