Does exposure to environmental toxicants inhibit our ability to have healthy children who develop normally? Biologic markersâ€"indicators that can tell us when environmental factors have caused a change at the cellular or biochemical level that might affect reproductive abilityâ€"are a promising tool for research aimed at answering that important question. Biologic Markers in Reproductive Toxicology examines the potential of these markers in environmental health studies; clarifies definitions, underlying concepts, and possible applications; and shows the benefits to be gained from their use in reproductive and neurodevelopmental research.

Proceedings of an international conference held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 16-19, 1992

Bioenvironmental Issues Affecting Men's Reproductive and Sexual Health is structured into two parts related to men's reproductive and sexual health with eight sections designed to enable a logical flow of such knowledge. The book is focused on the biology of key organs involved in male reproduction and the environmental influences affecting their functions with particular emphasis on clinical aspects. Individual chapters within the book range from basic to translational aspects, but all hold clinical relevance. This is an essential reference for those working and learning in the field of human reproduction, reproductive toxicology and environmental influences on reproductive and sexual health. - Brings together the leading authorities working in the field of male reproduction and sexual health and how the environment affects these issues - Provides guidelines and reference values of various reproductive hormones, semen parameters, inclusion/exclusion criteria for clinical trials - Discover the most efficient methods by which to design clinical protocols for sperm safety studies and reproductive toxicology trials

The most recent volume in the Drinking Water and Health series contains the results of a two-part study on the toxicity of drinking water contaminants. The first part examines current practices in risk assessment, identifies new noncancerous toxic responses to chemicals found in drinking water, and discusses the use of pharmacokinetic data to estimate the delivered dose and response. The second part of the book provides risk assessments for 14 specific compounds, 9 presented here for the first time.

To safeguard public health, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must keep abreast of new scientific information and emerging technologies so that it can apply them to regulatory decision-making. For decades the agency has dealt with questions about what animal-testing data to use to make predictions about human health hazards, how to perform dose-response extrapolations, how to identify and protect susceptible subpopulations, and how to address uncertainties. As alternatives to traditional toxicity testing have emerged, the agency has been faced with additional questions about how to incorporate data from such tests into its chemical assessments and whether such tests can replace some traditional testing methods. Endocrine active chemicals (EACs) have raised concerns that traditional toxicity-testing protocols might be inadequate to identify all potential hazards to human health because they have the ability to modulate normal hormone function, and small alterations in hormone concentrations, particularly during sensitive life stages, can have lasting and significant effects. To address concerns about potential human health effects from EACs at low doses, this report develops a strategy to evaluate the evidence for such low-dose effects.

The test substance is administered in graduated doses to several groups of males and females. Males should be dosed for a minimum of four weeks; females should be dosed throughout the study (approximately 54 days). Normally, matings “one male to one ...