Colborn Discusses Dangers of Chemicals

Last night around 100 people came to the Science Center to hear senior scientist of the World Wildlife Fund Dr. Theo Colborn speak on the dangers of chemicals in the environment around the Great Lakes.

The speech, "Endocrine Disruptors: A Global Perspective," was sponsored by the Harvard University Committee on the Environment.

Colborn is the co-author of the recently published book Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival?--A Scientific Detective Story.

Colborn's research in the Great Lakes region led her to write the book, she said. Last night she discussed some of the issues of her work.

"Ninety-one percent of pollution entering Lake Superior is entering atmospherically, like DDT used in developing countries," Colborn said. Traces of the chemical DDT can be found in everyone's tissues in the world today, Colborn said.

Dangerous chemicals in the atmosphere can spread very rapidly--pollution in Florida can reach the Great Lakes in four days, Colborn said. The effects on wildlife, particularly those living in or near lakes, can be disastrous.

"Male fish don't reach sexual maturity in the Great Lakes," Colborn said.

Chemicals are also responsible for preventing animals from converting food into energy, causing them to waste away, in some casses as few as 18 days after birth, Colborn said.

"Man-made chemicals can invade the womb and the egg and permanently change the development of the individual," she said. "The changes may not be realized until adulthood."

Yet chemicals also seem to have done harm to humans in the region.

Scientists have discovered 500 new chemicals in the body, none of which were present in humans before the 1920s, Colborn said. In most cases, the damage from these chemicals is irreversible, she added.

In a study cited by Colborn, researchers found that by the age of four, children whose mothers consumed two to three servings of fish from Lake Michigan each month had poorer short-term memory, lower cognitive processing speed, auditory and verbal deficits and quantitative memory deficits.

By age 11, the children showed a 6.2 point I.Q. deficit, and were up to a year behind in word and reading comprehension.

"The loss of human potential has yet to be determined," Colborn said.

Colborn will also be speaking today at the Divinity School.