Chemical exposures can have a substantial influence on maternal, infant, and childhood health outcomes. ECHO Program investigators have recently released several publications detailing research on how exposures to certain chemicals can influence the health of mothers and children.

For example, a recent ECHO study of more than 100 chemicals in a diverse population of pregnant women in the United States found that they have been exposed to a wide range of chemicals, including replacement chemicals.  Replacement chemicals are those that industries use in place of others they have phased out.  While we have some evidence on the health effects of older chemicals, we know much less about these replacements. ECHO investigators are looking at effects of both traditional and replacement chemicals.

You can read more about this and other ECHO research in July’s issue of the Connector.

I am also pleased to share that ECHO recently released Notices of Intent to Publish Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs). These FOAs will invite applications to extend and expand the capacity of the ECHO Cohort to further investigate the roles of a broad range of early exposures from society to biology, including the preconception period, across ECHO’s five key child health outcome areas among diverse populations. I encourage you to share these Notices of Intent to Publish with your networks. When the NIH publishes the actual funding announcements, the ECHO Program Office will post that information on the NIH ECHO website, so please check back for links to the FOAs and resources for potential applicants.