Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences established the NTP Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction in 1998 to serve as an environmental health resource to the public and to regulatory and health agencies. The Center provides scientifically-based, uniform assessments of the potential for adverse effects on reproduction and development caused by agents to which humans may be exposed. This is accomplished through rigorous evaluations of the scientific literature by independent panels of scientists.

There is widespread concern among health professionals, environmental scientists and the public that environmental exposures may be contributing to human reproductive and developmental disorders. Between five and ten percent of couples desiring children encounter problems achieving pregnancy, approximately 35–50 percent of pregnancies are not successfully completed, and 3 to 5 percent of newborns have major birth defects. The etiology of these problems is largely unknown. There is a clear need for readily accessible, scientifically authoritative evaluations of the human and experimental evidence that adverse effects on human reproduction and development may result from chemical exposures. The Center's goal is to provide such evaluations. A special effort is made to summarize these reports in terms that can be understood by those who are not scientifically trained.