Theo Colborn and Environmental Endocrine Disruption

自20世纪90年代以来，科学家和全球卫生专家一直关注环境内分泌干扰物（EDCs）对动物、人类和生态系统健康的影响。对内分泌干扰的认识是由于Theo Colborn（1927-2014）的工作。1988年，世界自然基金会（World Wildlife Fund）的助理科尔伯恩（Colborn）与加拿大生物学家合作，首次发现了五大湖流域暴露于环境毒素的动物的发育和生殖障碍。1991年，她组织了一次生物学家和生物医学科学家的会议来审查这些数据，并发表了《Wingspread共识声明》（Wingspread Consensus Statement），结论是“大量释放到环境中的人造化学物质……有可能破坏包括人类在内的动物的内分泌系统。”这预示着内分泌干扰科学的诞生。1996年，科尔伯恩和两位同事出版了畅销书《我们被偷走的未来：我们是否在威胁我们的智力和生存？》《科学侦探故事》，被翻译成16种语言。跟随雷切尔·卡森的脚步，科尔伯恩旨在告知公众环境、食品、个人护理和制成品中内分泌干扰化学物质（EDCs）的危险，这些化学物质会干扰正常的内分泌系统功能。EDCs模仿或阻断调节正常发育过程的激素，与精子质量和生育能力下降、性器官异常、青春期提前、某些癌症、学习障碍、糖尿病、肥胖等问题有关。这本畅销书促使美国和其他国家的政府监管机构对内分泌紊乱进行调查，但迄今为止进展缓慢。直到2014年去世，作为一名研究科学家、政策专家和活动家，科尔伯恩不知疲倦地工作，代表公众倡导采取预防措施减少环境中的EDCs。这个项目追溯了内分泌干扰科学和政策的历史，在一个传记中突出了科尔伯恩非凡的科学生涯。这本书和相关的网站将有助于STS的学术研究，并教育公众关于内分泌干扰化学品造成的持续问题。利用广泛的一手和二手资料（包括科尔伯恩的档案和同事和其他人的口述历史），本项目解决了STS文学和当代科学与社会中的几个核心问题：(1)第二波女权主义出现后，妇女和性别在科学中的角色变化，以内分泌干扰的新领域和跨学科研究小组的形成为例；(2) EDCs对基于传统毒理学方法和标准的美国监管程序构成挑战，但与欧盟和日本采取的EDCs方法相比，EDCs面临着依赖于暴露时间的低剂量效应的化学品；(3)通过讲述一个致力于确保个人健康和人类未来的科学生活，并认识到发展促进国家和全球经济的安全工业实践的重要性，利用传记来教育新一代有关内分泌干扰（特别是PFAS污染）的复杂问题。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Since the 1990s, scientists and global health experts have been concerned about the impact of environmental endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on the health of animals, humans, and the ecosystem. The recognition of endocrine disruption is due to the work of Theo Colborn (1927-2014). In 1988, Colborn, an Associate of the World Wildlife Fund working with Canadian biologists, first identified developmental and reproductive disorders in fauna exposed to environmental toxins in the Great Lakes basin. In 1991, she organized a conference of biologists and biomedical scientists to review the data, resulting in release of the Wingspread Consensus Statement, which concluded that a "large number of man-made chemicals released into the environment … have the potential to disrupt the endocrine system of animals, including humans." This heralded the birth of endocrine disruption science. In 1996, Colborn and two colleagues published the popular book, "Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening our Intelligence and Survival? A Scientific Detective Story," translated into sixteen languages. Following in Rachel Carson's footsteps, Colborn aimed to inform the public about the danger of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the environment, food, personal care and manufactured products, which can interfere with normal endocrine system functioning. Mimicking or blocking hormones that regulate normal developmental processes, EDCs are associated with such problems as reduced sperm quality and fertility, abnormalities in sex organs, early puberty, certain cancers, learning disabilities, diabetes, obesity, and more. This best-selling book prompted government regulatory agencies in the US and abroad to investigate endocrine disruption, but progress to date has been slow. Up to her death in 2014, Colborn worked tirelessly as a research scientist, policy expert, and activist advocating on behalf of the public to urge precautionary action to reduce environmental EDCs. This project traces the history of endocrine disruption science and policy in a biography highlighting Colborn’s extraordinary scientific career. The book and associated websites will contribute to STS scholarship and educate the public about the continuing problems posed by endocrine disrupting chemicals.Drawing on extensive primary and secondary sources (including Colborn‘s archive and oral histories by colleagues and others), this project addresses several core issues within STS literature and contemporary science and society: (1) The changing role of women and gender in science after the advent of second wave feminism, illustrated by the new field of endocrine disruption and the formation of transdisciplinary research groups; (2) The challenge EDCs pose to the US regulatory process—based on traditional toxicological methods and standards, but confronted by chemicals with low dose effects dependent on time of exposure—as contrasted with the approaches EDCs taken by the EU and Japan; and (3) The use of biography to educate a new generation about the complex issues of endocrine disruption (especially PFAS contamination) by narrating a life in science dedicated to ensuring individual health and the future of humanity, and yet recognizing the importance of developing safe industrial practices that promote the national and global economy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.