These questions have perplexed researchers for decades. Slaughter's bill, the Women's Health Environmental Research Centers Act of 2000, would establish up to six multidisciplinary research centers that would investigate environmental factors that may be related to the development of women's health problems. Four million dollars would be allocated for fiscal year 2001 to establish the centers. We now know that men and women's health differ in a variety of ways.
Women tend to be smaller, with more fat tissue where toxins accumulate.
They are often exposed to different toxic agents. It's time we looked at these possible exposures and their effect from a variety of disciplines oncology, microbiology, endocrinology, epidemiology. Specialists in these areas should all work together on this problem. What's more, cadmium, led, and possibly other heavy metals found in the environment have been implicated in increased bone loss and osteoporosis in post-menopausal women. While the scientific community has become increasingly aware of the unique susceptibilities of women to environmental chemical exposures, our understanding of how these exposures contribute to diseases of women, and how they interact with other environmental and genetic risk factors is almost negligible.