2020 – Research project
“Reproductive health: expelling toxic compounds from our (new) lives”, cofunded by the Barcelona City Council and the Food Observatory Association.
This project of reproductive health awareness is focused on the training and dissemination of knowledge about the reproductive health effects of environmental chemical contaminants present in food. In this sense, the target population of the project will be the health sector (pediatricians, midwives, nurses and gynecologists from CAPs and Barcelona hospitals) and the population of pregnant and lactating women residing in the city of Barcelona.
The main objective is to expand and improve the information on dietary advice with emphasis on the role of the risks of environmental pollutants in the phases of pregnancy, lactation and child feeding. Within the field of reproductive health, risks from exposure to environmental toxic compounds are not part of the current information protocols for pregnant and lactating women. Given the importance of these elements in the health of women and future generations, as well as the importance of reducing the level of contamination of the Barcelona population, this project aims to promote a series of awareness-raising and health promotion actions, as well as promoting a more responsible, sustainable, adequate and healthy food consumption.
This project has as its starting point the guide “Environmental chemical pollutants present in food: Recommendations guide for pregnant and lactating women” that was carried out with funding from the Barcelona City Council in 2017, published and available on the web http: // www .ub.edu / toxicbody / guide /. Although it was formally presented two years ago in various CAPs and hospitals in the city of Barcelona, as well as in hospitals in Malaga and Granada, we are currently unaware of the use and scope of this guide among healthcare personnel and pregnant and lactating women. For this reason, an evaluation of its use will be made through an online questionnaire, and an update of the guide taking into account the results of the questionnaire.
The project, therefore, also raises a socially feminized problem. For this reason, it is expected to make explicit both in the training and in the dissemination materials that it is a responsibility that does not fall solely on women, nor in the domestic sphere, but that the problem of PTC in food consumption is a social and political responsibility that involves everyone. To demonstrate the feminization of responsibility for the problem is a transversal objective of the project.
Research team: Cristina Larrea-Killinger (Chief Researcher), Juan Pedro Arrébola (Universidad de Granada), Ruth Echevarría (Universidad de Granada), Marta Ruiz, Maria Clara de Moraes Prata Gaspar.