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“Imagine you are building a house. What would happen if you left a brick out of the foundation, or added a few bricks where they did not belong? The house may seem fine, but the hidden fault might impair the structure or make the house more vulnerable to other stressors. The house may stand for years without trouble, slowly crumble over time, or suddenly collapse in an earthquake or hurricane. Like bricks in the foundation of a house, hormone-controlled prenatal development of the reproductive system lays the foundation for a person’s lifelong reproductive health. Small hormone disruptions during this critical time — or at another hormone-driven stage of development like early life or puberty — can lead to reproductive health problems or an increased vulnerability to reproductive disorders later in life.”

This is the compelling introduction from Girl, Disrupted: Hormone Disruptors and Women’s Reproductive Health, a 35-page report released today from the Collaborative on Health and the Environment that was written for non-scientists to explain what's known, what's suspected and what should be the focus of additional research regarding contaminants linked to conditions including early puberty, infertility, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, breast cancer and others.

Based on cutting-edge research and reviewed by top scientists in the field, Girl, Disrupted explains what hormone disruptors are and how these chemicals affect women’s reproductive systems - particularly at critical stages of development. The authors of the paper hope their findings and analysis will catalyze a new wave of research on hormone disruptors and, ultimately, lead to greater protections from chemicals that affect the reproductive health of women and girls.

Girl, Disrupted is based on “Female reproductive disorders: The roles of endocrine disrupting compounds and developmental timing” that was published online in the peer-reviewed journal Fertility and Sterility in October 2008. This emerged from the January 2008 Women’s Reproductive Health and the Environment Workshop, in which leading researchers gathered to determine what is known about how hormone disruptors affect women’s reproductive health and to identify research gaps.

If you’re short on time, download Hormone Disruptors and Women's Health: Reasons for Concern, a six-page summary brochure that highlights the key scientific takeaways covered in Girl, Disrupted. If you would like hard copies of these publications, please email your request to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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