Women Wednesday - Dr. Susan Shaw
March 8th, 2023
“The plastic waste trade is killing children. That violates every human right I can think of.” - Dr. Susan Shaw
The late Dr. Susan Shaw was an environmental health scientist, author, professor, and marine toxicologist who specialized in ocean pollution research including the impacts of oil spills and plastics on human health and the environment that inspired policy changes.
Early on Susan showed signs of being a focused and determined person, proving her skills as a gifted archer and a state-champion high diver. As an undergrad at the University of Texas, she earned several academic honors and went on to complete an MFA degree in Film from Columbia University in 1970, and a doctorate in Public Health/Environmental Health Sciences from Columbia University's School of Public Health in 1999.
Her passion for film fueled the publication of her first book in 1983 entitled “Overexposure” which highlighted the human health hazards associated with darkroom chemicals and their link to cancer in young photographers.
She moved to Blue Hill Bay on the coast of Maine in 1989 where she discovered her passion for seals and other marine life. Just a year later, she founded the Marine Environmental Research Institute (later renamed the Shaw Institute) spurred by massive harbor death tolls from polluted waters in northwestern Europe. To this day, the Shaw Institute aims to improve the health of humans and the environment via domestic and international partnerships.
In 2007, Dr. Shaw was awarded a Citation of Recognition by the Governor and State of Maine Legislature for being the first scientist to link widespread fish and marine mammal contamination in the northwest Atlantic to brominated flame retardant chemicals that were leaching from furniture.
Dr. Shaw helped assess the impact of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and spoke out against the use of dispersant chemicals (i.e. Corexit). Instead of solving the issue, Dr. Shaw argued that the dispersant was increasing the spill’s toxicity. She brought attention to the potential long-term ecological damage and impending negative effects on human health through TEDx talks and Animal Planet’s Black Tide: Voices of the Gulf and Green Planet's The Big Fix.
In 2013 Dr. Shaw was part of a research effort that investigated occupational chemical exposures to San Francisco firefighters and their high cancer rates which remains one of the most extensive exposure assessments of its kind to this day.
Her research on the survival of marine mammals faced with global warming and pollution spanned three oceans, including research on microplastics in the Gulf of Maine which led to state and national bans of microbeads. Dr. Shaw promoted international plastic reduction strategies and exposed the illegal plastic waste trade which uses millions of children in developing countries as waste pickers and e-waste recyclers.
Dr. Susan Shaw tirelessly spoke out about these issues until her death in January 2022 at the age of 78.
Sarah Boison, Senior Consultant at HRP Associates, Inc.
Sources:
https://www.shawinstitute.org/about/founder-executive-director-dr-susan-shaw
https://www.themainemag.com/susan-d-shaw-drph-founder-executive-director-marine-environmental-research-institute/#close
https://www.colorado.edu/cwa/susan-shaw
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