Summary - Section 32

"Our Stolen Future" by Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers is a precautionary article about humanity's future. Aside from the deterioration of our planet, it talks about other effects on our human health, instead of the major concerns of non-renewable resource depletion, recycling, and others. Instead, they are concerned with the chemicals from pollutants released into our atmosphere and water sources that in low doses, can seriously harm humans genetically. They have tested with animals in nature and lab animals and the results have been serious genetic disorders, that are only a precursor for what could happen to humans. They are even thinking that current developmental abnormalities experienced by many people could be the result of small doses of chemicals over the course of time. They even go on to say that single large doses of these chemicals will have less of an effect than the small doses over a period of time. Because animal species are built internally similar to humans, the wild and lab animals that are experience hormone disruption are serious warmings for us to make serious changes before it is too late.

It's a big wake up call to begin thinking about all the seemingly minor things that will be majorly detremental to our health. As we even briefly touched on in class, it's better off to get the large dose than many smaller doses over time, but either option is frightening. The fact that you could seem healthy for a number of years and one day you're ovaries are dysfunctional because perhaps a chemical used to keep pests off of a corn field made you sick.

I find it hard to think about these small things, because it does let your brain wander too far into the unknown. You get thoughts that nothing is safe...is the packaging that my chicken came in leaking chemicals into my chicken, or if the vegetables in my garden are poisoned because of pollutans in the atmosphere, or the dyes in my clothing...and so on. Where does it end? And where does it start to get better? How can these things be enforced?


Colborn, Theo, Dumanoski, Dianne, Myers, John Peters. (1996). Our Stolen Future. In, Easton, Thomas A. Environmental Studies. Third Edition. Waterville (ME): McGraw Higher Hill Education. p. 162-164.