Speaker to address dangers
of chemical pesticide use
■ Renowned zoologist
says humans and wildlife
could be threatened.
By Raymond Rinkol
Staff writer
The use of synthetic chemicals and
how they threaten the health of humans
and animals will be examined today at
the Lied Center for Performing Arts.
Theodora Emily Colborn, a
renowned zoologist and the director of
the Wildlife and Contaminants
Program, will present a speech
title“Endocrine Disruption: From
Wildlife to Humans” at 3:30 p.m.
The Wildlife and Contaminants
Program is part of the World Wildlife
Fund based in Washington, D.C.
Colborn co-authored the book “Our
Stolen Future,” which focuses on the
dangers of synthetic chemicals, such as
pesticides.
Colbom said in an interview that
evidence suggests that the accepted
methods of testing the safety of chemi
cals are no longer adequate.
Svata Louda, a professor of biologi
cal sciences at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, said the environ
ment is subjected to roughly 60,000
synthetic chemicals that, upon break
down, remain active in the environment
Thus, humans and animals breathe,
drink and absorb the chemicals into
their skins.
Mary Beck, a UNL animal science
professor, said once chemicals are in
bodies, they can act as hormones and
affect the development of the organism
in horrifying ways.
Developmental damage incurred by
the fetus, Louda said, includes the
underdevelopment of the spine and
brain and also limits the organism from
realizing its intellectual potential.
“Male sperm counts have gone
down, and this is a possible explanation
because of the estrogen-like activity of
these breakdown chemicals,” Louda
said.
Beck said the effects of synthetic
chemicals also have been traced to an
increased activity in breast cancer and
other hormone-related health condi
tions.
Colbom will call for future scien
tists, lawyers, sociologists and philoso
phers to consider the arising ramifica
tions of the chemical world.
Louda said Colburn wants to raise
awareness through education.
“(Colburn) hopes to help educate
people as to what she perceives as a
major environmental threat to both
humans and wildlife,” she said.
‘Shakespeare’s Sister provides
forum for women’s literature
By Margaret Behm
Staff writer
In honor of International Women’s
Day, women across campus will be
able to show there’s more to women’s
literature than Lady MacBeth, Titus
and Juliet.
“Shakespeare’s Sister,” an infor
mal reading aiming to showcase
women writers, will take place
Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in
Andrews Hall’s Bailey Lounge.
The idea for the “Shakespeare’s
Sister” reading comes from the
famous writing by Virginia Woolf, “A
Room of One’s Own,” said Barbara
DiBemard, a professor of English.
In the story, Woolf asks the ques
tion, “What if Shakespeare had a sis
ter?” She writes that Judith, the name
she gives to Shakespeare’s sister, prob
ably would have been betrothed in an
arranged marriage.
If she would have said no, Woolf
suggests that her father would have
beat her and “flung her about the
room” and said Judith was breakjng
his heart.
Woolf then writes that Judith
would have run away to London,
where she would have been unable to
get a meal at a tavern, enter a theater or
write like her brother because she was
a woman.
She would perhaps have gotten
pregnant and would have then commit
ted suicide, Woolf wrote.
But the story doesn’t have an
unhappy ending, DiBemard said.
“Woolf wrote that Shakespeare’s
sister lives in each of us, and we should
use our opportunities and talents to
have women’s voices heard,” she said.
“And that’s what we’re doing on
Wednesday.”
People can read from any woman’s
writings, including their own.
Those interested can sign up out
side of the lounge before the event or
just show up and read.
Videotapes of women writers read
ing their works will be played during
times when no one is reading.
“The purpose of the event is to sup
port female’artists and writers,” said
Keri Wayne, a senior women’s studies
major, “because a lot of times women’s
writings have been systematically
overlooked.”
The event, which is sponsored by
the Women’s Studies Program the
Women’s Studies Association, will be
a good way for people to celebrate
their favorite women authors, Wayne
said.
“I feel like it’s a way to support the
women they love - their role models,”
she said.
Wayne said that she will be reading
Wednesday.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for
me to get the name of a woman author
out there,” she said.
Mary Stillwell, who is signed up to
read, said it makes her feel good to lis
ten to the writings of women authors.
“You get a feeling of pride hearing
the work of fine women writers,”
Stillwell, a graduate student, said.
Stillwell, who started college in the
1970s, said women writers were not
always part of school curricula.
“When I started college, we stud
ied very few women writers,” she said.
“I didn’t even start writing until I was
out of college because I didn’t realize
that real live women could write.”
Stillwell said she started to write
after taking a poetry course at New
York University that featured women
writers.
It was hearing the new voices ot
the lives and words of other women
that really got me going,” she said.
Wayne said she is looking forward
to the program to hear writings of
unfamiliar women.
“I hope to hear some new work that
I haven’t heard,” she said. “There’s a lot
of them out there. We aren’t exposed to
their work as often as we should be.”
Senior editor Jennifer Walker
contributed to this story.
Women’s Week 2000
Celebrating the Beauty in all of Us...Broadening Our Vision
Tuesday. March 7
Dr. Sylvia Wiegand “Mathematical Pioneer Woman”
Presentation on Dr. Grace Chisholm Young, the first woman
to receive a Ph.D. in any field in Germany. 3:30-4:30 in the
Nebraska Union. Reception to follow.
Sponsored by the Women’s Undergraduate Math Network, the Department
of Mathematics and Statistics, and the Women’s Center.
The Ladies Room 7:00 p.m. Nebraska Union Auditorium
A hilarious film documentary about what really goes on
behind closed doors. Women tell stories of love, sex,
marriage, divorce, mothers and body image. Meet filmmaker
Cynthia Salzman Mondell at the reception after the screening.
Co-sponsored by University Program Council and the Women’s Center.
Join us and sample cuisine
from around the world!
DATE:
March Q. 2000
TIME:
11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
LOCATION:
City Union
(Near Subway)
fttstatraiytM
International
Student
Organization
Contact Pooja at pkhati®cse.unLecLj or cal
I International Affairs at 472-5358 for more information
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Keep campus beautiful.
Recycle your DN.
Cornhusker'
Marching Ban
Flagline Audit
29, 30 & 31
- 9 PM
iField Hous
Call the NU Band Office
at 471.2505 to register
UNIVERSITY OF NEERAjggA- LINCOLN
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E. N. THOMPSON
LJ III lA forum on world issues
A cooperative protect of The Cooper Foundation and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ENDOCRINE
DISRUPTION:
FROM WIIPLIF! TO HUMANS
THEODORA(THEO) EMILY COLBORN
Senior Program Scientist and Director; Wildlife and
Contaminants Programs, World Wildlife Fund
Many synthetic chemicals once considered benign are now an integral part of
the global ecosystem and pose a threat to the development and function of
those exposed in the womb or the egg. Dr. Colbom’s work has triggered
worldwide public concern with endocrine disruptors, and has prompted
enactment of new laws by governments and redirection of research by
governments, the private sector and academics.
TUESDAY, MARCH 7.2000,3:30 P.M.
LIED CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS
12TH & R STREETS
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