Researchers at Northwestern University have revealed that they will be meeting with administrators of Environmental Protection Agency on October 18.

The Northwestern team will ask the EPA to expand the definition of reproductive health beyond pregnancy to include the lifespan of an individual.
"Reproductive health is important across the entire lifespan because your endocrine system affects your bone health, cardiovascular health and other systems in the body," Timmerman said. Endocrine disrupters, sometimes triggered by environmental factors, can lead to increased risk for stroke and heart attack as well as osteoporosis.
The Northwestern scientists also will request that all EPA-sponsored research require appropriate testing in both sexes. Currently many toxicity studies are only conducted in male animal models with the assumption that females are affected the same way, but that isn't necessarily true.
"What happens now is if researchers don't see an effect in males, they won't look in females," Timmerman said. "But we know certain toxins in the environment can have a significant effect on females and not males and vice versa."
Timmerman and colleagues will present a white paper to the EPA on how to improve and update the guidelines. View the white paper at: http://www.woodrufflab.org/sites/default/files/EPAWhitePaper.pdf
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