Reproductive Toxicity of Environmental Contaminants in the Female

There are more than 7 million known chemicals of which it is estimated that approximately 80,000 are in commercial use, rendering human chemical exposure inevitable. Exposure to environmental contaminants has been linked to numerous adverse reproductive health outcomes; however, regulatory testing for hazard identification and risk assessment remains a challenge. Moreover, translation of results from animal studies to human health risk and establishment of causal associations is a process that is generally not well-understood and fraught with difficulty. Assessing the potential impact of exposure to environmental contaminants in females is complicated by a paucity of exposure data, the lack of suitable biomarkers of effect, and uncertainty surrounding translation of effects in animals to humans. Herein we review current screening methods for hazard identification and discuss emerging techniques that enhance the sensitivity of existing methods for assessing reproductive toxicity and provide mechanistic insight for regulatory decisions.