Theodore "Theo" Emily Decker Colborn

Born: 1927

Died: 2014

Country of Birth: USA

Nationality: USA

Ethnicity: White

Rutgers University BS Pharmacy 1947; Western State College of Colorado MA Freshwater Ecology 1981; University of Wisconsin PhD Zoology 1985

"“When I was a little kid, all I wanted to do was be outside,” (endocrinedisruptor.org/Colborn); "This is one of the things that worries me. We are so hell-bent on finding out what is going on in outer space, and we don't even know how the embryo develops. We truly don't. We don't know at what concentration the hormones act in the developing embryo to tell the embryo how to develop. We are just breaking through on this now. Isn't that ridiculous? We have got the technology to do this. We haven't paid attention to what is normal. And the problem is, now it may be too late because there isn't anyone in the world who doesn't have a large number of what we call "persistent chemicals" in their body. There isn't a child born today that hasn't been exposed to these chemicals from the day of conception. So we can't go back and find out what was back then or what was normal. This is ridiculous." (pbs.org); " The whole problem lies during fetal and embryonic development: the early stages of development. This is what we discovered in the wildlife. All we are doing is telling the truth. These chemicals affect the very simplest forms of life, which is the single cells that begin to split and form individuals, whether it is a bird, a fish, a horse, a human being." (pbs.org); "Only a pittance of the estimated 100,000 or more synthetic chemicals made from the aromatics have been thoroughly tested for their effects on the endocrine system. The government requires industry to test for cancer, but not for connection with increasing epidemics of endocrine system related disorders—Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, autism, intelligence and behavioral problems, diabetes, obesity, cancers in children and adults, abnormal genitalia, hypospadias, infertility, Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s Diseases. These are costing families and governments a fortune, while also depriving us of our ability to function as individuals to our fullest potential." (orionmagazine.org); "

— Theodore "Theo" Emily Decker Colborn

Field of Study: Ecology; Zoology

Institution/Corporation: University of Florida

Degrees & Memberships: Honorary Degree: University of Colorado Boulder (2011); Member: W. Alton Jones foundation, society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (1988-2009), The Endocrine Society (2007), Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology (1994-2009), Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (1979-2014), Colorado field Ornithologists (1964-2014)

Awards: 2014 The Jonathan Foreman Award, American Academy of Environmental Medicine; 2013 The Jean and Leslie Douglas Pearl Award; 2011 Twenty-Seventh International Neurotoxicology Conference, Theo Colborn Award; 2011 French National Museum of Natural History, Medal; 2008 The Swedish Goteborg Prize for the Environment and Sustainability; 2007 TIME Global Environmental Heroes Award; 2007 National Council on Science and the Environment, Lifetime Achievement Award; University of California San Francisco Medical School/Collaborative for Health and the Environment 2007 Summit Award: A Woman on the Forefront: Leadership and Integrity in Science; 2006 Beyond Pesticides, Dragonfly Award; 2004 The Center for Science in the Public Interest, Rachel Carson Award; 2003 Society of Toxicology and Environmental Chemistry, Rachel Carson Award; 2000 International Blue Planet Prize, Asahi Glass Foundation, Japan; 1999 Norwegian International Rachel Carson Prize; 1998 Audubon Magazine: A Century of Conservation, 100 Champions of Conservation; 1997 State of the World Forum, Mikhail Gorbachev, “Change Makers Award;" 1997 Rachel Carson Leadership Award, Chatham College; 1997 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Women Leadership in the Environment Award; 1994National Conservation Achievement Award in Science, National Wildlife Federation; 1993-96 Pew Scholars Award in Environment and Conservation; 1993 W. Alton Jones Foundation, Fellowship; 1991 The National Water Alliance Award for Excellence in Protecting the Nation's Aquatic Resources; 1985 US Congressional Fellowship, Office of Technology Assessment; 2010 Blue Planet Prize; 1996 Science in Social Journalism Award; 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award

Achievements: Founder of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX 2003) a research organization devoted to understanding how environmental exposures to endocrine disruptors interfere with development and health; an environmental health analyst, and best known for her studies on the health effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals; Professor Emerita of Zoology University of Florida; established and directed the Wildlife and Contaminants Program at World Wildlife Fund, US;1991, as a fellow of the W. Alton Jones Foundation, she brought a group of 21 scientists with diverse backgrounds together, to attend the first of a series of conferences at Racine, Wisconsin, that became known simply as "Wingspread", about the effects of human exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals examined in the environment; published and lectured extensively on the consequences of prenatal exposure to synthetic chemicals by the developing embryo and fetus in wildlife, laboratory animals, and humans; contributed to a two-year study of the Great Lakes drainage basin; 1991, published a study about the reproductive challenges faced by bald eagles living in the Great Lakes region; with developmental biologist Frederick S. vom Saal and cell biologist Ana M. Soto coined the term endocrine disruptor in a paper "Developmental effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in wildlife and humans," published in 1993; 1996 coauthored a book with environmental journalist Dianne Dumanoski and environmental health scientist John Peterson Myers titled "Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival? A Scientific Detective Story" which spurred the US Congress to pass two acts that led to the creation of the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, a program led by the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington D.C. to test new chemicals for their possible effects on endocrine systems;