Sandra Steingraber
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| Sandra Steingraber | |
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| Born | 1959 Tazewell County, Illinois, United States |
| Occupation | Biologist, science writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Writing period | 1996 to the present |
| Subjects | ecology, cancer, fertility, pregnancy, toxicology |
| Notable work(s) | Living Downstream |
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Sandra Steingraber (b. 1959) is an American biologist and author in the tradition of Rachel Carson. Steingraber writes and lectures on the environmental factors that contribute to reproductive health problems and cancer.
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[edit] Biography
Steingraber was adopted as an infant, and she grew up in Tazewell County, Illinois. Her mother was a microbiologist and her father was a community college teacher. [1] Her parents inculcated in her an interest in sustainable development and organic agriculture from a young age. [2]
In her 20s, Steingraber developed bladder cancer. She was not alone; in several of her books, she describes an apparent cancer cluster in her hometown.[3]
After her cancer went into remission, Steingraber completed her undergraduate degree in biology from Illinois Wesleyan University. She worked for several years as a field researcher, eventually earning her doctorate in biology from the University of Michigan. Steingraber also holds a master's degree in English from Illinois State University.
Steingraber now teaches at Ithaca College, located in Ithaca, New York. She lives in Trumansburg, New York with her husband Jeff de Castro, a sculptor and art restoration specialist, and their two children.
[edit] Awards and Honors
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[edit] Books by Steingraber
- The Spoils of Famine: Ethiopian Famine Policy and Peasant Agriculture (Cultural Survival Report 25) (1988, co-author), which raised issues of ecology and human rights in Africa.
- Post-diagnosis (1995), a volume of poetry on living with cancer.
- Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment (1997), which proposed a relationship between cancer registry data and toxics-release inventory data.
- Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood (2001), which explored fetal toxicology and genetics with respect to Steingraber's own pregnancy.
[edit] Living Downstream
In Living Downstream, Steingraber talks about how much pesticide was applied to Illinois farmland each year.
"To the 89 percent of Illinois that is farmland, an estimated 54 million pounds of synthetic pesticides are applied each year. Introduced into Illinois at the end of World War II, these chemical poisons quietly familiarized themselves with the landscape. In 1950, less than 10 percent of cornfields were sprayed with pesticides. In 1993, 99 percent were chemically treated," (page 5).
[edit] References
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