Theodora Emily Decker Colborn, better known as Theo Colborn, is a leading proponent of the theory of endocrine disruption. This theory states that some synthetic chemicals interfere with the ways that hormones work in humans and animals. Colborn argues that such disruption can have profound adverse effects, especially when a mother passes a contaminating agent to a growing fetus, and the contamination interferes with the hormonal signals used by the fetus to direct its growth. Colborn says the possible adverse effects, which in some cases are not apparent until adulthood, include impaired ability to reproduce, diminished intelligence, altered behavior, and reduced ability to resist disease. Colborn, along with journalist Dianne Dumanoski and zoologist John Peterson Myers, presented her argument in a controversial 1996 book titled Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival"--A Scientific Detective Story.

Colborn was born on March 28, 1927, in Plainfield, New Jersey...