Pfaudler Lecture Series - From BPA to Phthalates to PFAS: How Environmental Chemicals Are Harming Our Health and What We Can Do About It

Register to attend: https://forms.gle/xQSh8r3sdizn8MDU8

Laura N. Vandenberg, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs, School of Public Health & Health Sciences and Professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts - Amherst

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are chemicals that alter the actions of hormones. In
recent years experts from medical, scientific, and environmental activist groups have demanded action from regulatory agencies to protect present and future generations from the harm induced by EDC exposures. These demands are based on strong evidence from epidemiology, wildlife, and controlled laboratory studies. In this talk Dr. Vandenberg will discuss some environmental chemicals that have received a lot of attention in recent years including BPA, phthalates, PFAS (forever chemicals), and others. She'll share with you the conclusions drawn by experts from different scientific and medical disciplines and discuss recent findings that have changed the landscape of EDC work. The need to expand our understanding of vulnerable periods of life, and the increasing concern that traditional methods used to evaluate toxicity of environmental chemicals are insufficient for EDCs will also be discussed. Finally she'll argue that regulatory agencies have failed to protect us, but collaborative science can help to address these gaps.