Chemicals from your work can come home on your skin, hair, clothes and shoes. When you go home, these chemicals can get onto your floors, your furniture, or in your car where your family members or pets can be exposed. We call this take-home exposure.

Elemental chlorine is a greenish gas and powerful oxidant that is used as a chemical weapon because of its severe irritant properties. Chlorine reacts with most organic compounds and is an essential reagent in the chemical industry.

Chemical exposures during work can affect both men and women. When the male partner has intensive occupational exposure to certain pesticides, heavy metals, organic solvents or other agents, pregnancy outcomes such as spontaneous abortion and birth defects may be increased.

Ammonia is a colorless gas with a strong characteristic odor similar to urine that allows its detection at low levels.  Ammonia compounds are used in fertilizers, plastics, synthetic fibers, dyes, explosives, pharmaceuticals, and are a major component of many common household cleaning products.

Exposure to ionizing radiation at work could increase your chances of having reproductive problems, including having a baby with a birth defect. Here, you can learn more about ionizing radiation and what you can do to reduce your exposure for a healthier pregnancy.

If you’re employed in the UK, the law protects you against discrimination.. It is a good idea to know your rights and responsibilities in relation to pregnancy and work.

Women who work in restaurants may be concerned about heat and the air they are breathing. Secondhand smoke, as well as smoke from grilling and frying may contain chemicals like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Increased ventilation may help to reduce exposures.

Some infections can pass to an unborn baby during pregnancy and cause a miscarriage or birth defect.

Infectious agents
Working with or exposure to certain bacteria, viruses,

Working with formaldehyde could increase your chances of having fertility problems or miscarriage.

 What is formaldehyde?

  Formaldehyde is an organic chemical usually used in making building materials and many household products such as a preservatives and disinfectants.

Nail and beauty salon employees are potentially exposed to dozens of chemicals including acrylates (epoxies or resins), solvents, and biocides as dusts or vapors. Some chemicals commonly used in salons can enter breast milk or be carried home on skin, clothes, and shoes.

 

Working with or exposure to certain epoxies or resins could increase your chances of having fertility problems, miscarriage, stillbirth, or a baby with birth defects. Here, you can learn more about these chemicals and what you can do to reduce your exposure for a healthier pregnancy.

 

Zika virus is an emerging mosquito-borne virus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys through a monitoring network of sylvatic yellow fever. It was subsequently identified in humans in 1952 in Uganda and Tanzania.