Life and achievements
Early life
Theodora Emily Decker, later to become Theo Colborn, was born on March 28, 1927, in Plainfield, New Jersey. Born in a humble background, Colborn's childhood experiences were influenced by the Great Depression and the Second World War.
Nevertheless, she continued her education and obtained a B.S. in pharmacy at Rutgers University in 1947. After completing her studies, Colborn married and joined her husband to operate their family pharmacy. They had four children together; she was a housewife and a dedicated community member for several years.
However, in the 1960s, after relocating to Colorado, Colborn's interest in environmental science developed. She began engaging herself in conservation and campaigning against water pollution and suburban sprawl in her local areas. In the late 1970s, when Colborn's marriage ended, she returned to school to complete her education.
She took a course at the Western State College of Colorado, where she got her M.A. in freshwater ecology in 1981. This was the start of a transition into environmental health, and she was to go on and earn a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1985 at the age of fifty-eight. Her doctoral work was on water pollution, which would recur in her later work.
Legacy
Theo Colborn's most significant impact is her work on endocrine disruption and its consequences on health and the environment. She found that deficient concentrations of synthetic chemicals, including PCBs and BPA, could act like hormones and interfere with reproductive and developmental processes in both humans and animals.
These findings were initially considered heretical but are now regarded as seminal in environmental health science.
Her book Our Stolen Future (1996) was the first to shed light on the problem of endocrine disruptors. The book by journalists Dianne Dumanoski and John Peterson Myers stated that product chemicals interfered with fertility, intelligence, and survival. The work was pioneering in establishing the relationship between exposure to toxic substances and chronic diseases, including cancer, learning disabilities, and infertility.
It has been compared to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring for its scientific research and for the reaction it provoked about the lack of control of chemical products.
In 2003, Colborn established The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX), a non-profit organization investigating endocrine disruptors and promoting better chemical regulation. With TEDX, Colborn was able to shape scientific studies and government regulations as well. Her work resulted in significant policy shifts, especially in the EU, which tightened its rules on chemicals that could be endocrine disruptors.
Colborn played a central role in a campaign to ensure that endocrine-disrupting chemicals were included in REACH, an EU regulation.
Colborn was awarded many distinguished honors for her efforts, such as the TIME Global Environmental Heroes Award, the Rachel Carson Prize, and the International Blue Planet Prize. She also trained many young scientists, particularly women, to undertake research in environmental health.
Colborn's work is not only in her scientific work but also in her fight for public health and the environment. Her work remains relevant to scientists, policymakers, and activists who are still struggling to deal with chemical pollution of the environment and its resulting impacts on human and ecological health.
Milestone moments
Mar 28, 1927
The Birth of a Future Pioneer in Environmental Science
Theo Colborn was born Theodora Emily Decker in Plainfield, New Jersey.
The major events during her childhood were the economic problems of the Great Depression, which made her a hardworking and determined woman.
Colborn's childhood was not characterized by wealth and luxury, as she was born into a working-class family.
The economic challenges she faced influenced her experience of entering higher education.
She was the first person in her family to attend college and started at Rutgers University.
Despite having a successful career as a pharmacist, her early working life eventually turned her towards another profession.
Years later, Colborn would become an environmental health scientist, motivated by increasing awareness of the dangers of industrial chemicals on humans and other living organisms.
Oct 9, 1985
A New Direction: Ph.D.
At 58, Colborn received her Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
This was a late career change which was quite unusual given her age and the future focus of her research.
Her doctoral work on water pollution revealed some worrisome trends in the impact of pollutants on animals.
She wondered how these chemicals may impact the environment and people's well-being.
This academic achievement began Colborn's journey to becoming one of the most prominent scholars in the study of endocrine disruption.
During this period, she started laying down the groundwork for research that would revolutionize environmental policy worldwide.
Mar 12, 1991
The Wingspread Conference: A Defining Moment
In 1991, Theo Colborn convened a scientific conference in Racine, Wisconsin, that came to be known as the Wingspread Conference.
At this meeting, 21 top researchers from different fields reviewed the accumulating data on chemicals that disrupt hormonal processes.
At this conference, the term "endocrine disruptor" was first used.
From this meeting, the Wingspread Consensus Statement was produced, which became a turning point in environmental science.
It identified synthetic chemicals as capable of disrupting hormone systems in wildlife and humans.
The conference established Colborn as a leader in this fledgling field and laid the groundwork for her subsequent work.
The conclusions of this meeting would determine the future of scientific research worldwide and environmental policies in the following decades.
Jul 22, 1996
The release of Our Stolen Future
Colborn's work was made available to the public with the publication of Our Stolen Future in 1996.
Together with Dianne Dumanoski and John Peterson Myers, the book discussed the risks of endocrine-disrupting chemicals present in plastics, pesticides, and many other products.
The book was compared to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and attracted much attention to these chemicals.
It had a worldwide effect, and people discussed chemical safety and the environment.
Despite pushback from the chemical industry, Colborn's message was clear: These chemicals impacted wildlife and people's health.
The publication of this book was a milestone in increasing people's awareness of environmental health problems.