Book review: Poisoned Profits

Posted on Jan 08, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Media/Videos, Research

More and more evidence exists that children are being harmed by toxic chemicals and heavy metals in the environment.

Veteran journalists Philip and Alice Shabecoff, authors of Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Children, argue that toxic chemicals and heavy metals in the environment are responsible for much of the increase in chronic disease and disability in children and explain why governments and industry have done little to stem the tide of misery.

Excerpt of book review in Chemical and Engineering News:

What is unusual about the book is not just that the Shabecoffs present abundant evidence that toxic substances in the environment are responsible for many health problems in children. They also carefully explain why it is difficult to establish clear cause-and-effect relationships between hazardous substances and illness. And they describe the tactics industry uses to absolve itself from blame and keep products on the market even while evidence of harm is accumulating. Dozens of industry-funded nonprofit policy organizations, such as the American Council on Science & Health, consistently defend chemicals like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

The entire book is very readable, written for the layperson, but for the average consumer, the appendices are probably the most useful sections. These illustrate how to avoid toxic exposures in the home—from phthalates and bisphenol A, for example—and advocate for a clean environment in schools and neighborhoods.

Evidence that low levels of toxic chemicals harm children comes from many sources, the book explains. First of all, it has a basis in biomonitoring. Analyses of cord blood show that every baby born today has 150 to 230 toxic chemicals in his or her blood, including PCBs, phthalates, flame retardants, bisphenol A, pesticides, lead, and mercury. This means that from the day of conception, embryos and fetuses are exposed to a cocktail of toxicants that cross the placental barrier.

For the most part, the book explains, the toxicants do not cause damage by altering DNA, the gene-bearing molecule in cells. Instead, they alter gene expression—the programming of the genes or, in other words, the times when the genes are turned on and off. This phenomenon is known as epigenetics.

Link to full review

Thanks, Linda!

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Tags: Books, Chemicals, Children's Health, Environment, Environmental Illness, Health, Policy, Research, Toxic

4 Responses to “Book review: Poisoned Profits”

Alice Shabecoff

09. Jan, 2009

Would there be an interest in our setting up a ‘google group’ through which people could communicate with each other about their children’s health effects from toxic exposure and possible courses of action both to help their kids and to eliminate these assaults?

As authors of Poisoned Profits, we’d love to do anything we could to be helpful on a practical and political level.

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linda

09. Jan, 2009

That or a Yahoo group (I do know how those work) could be a great idea.

I know there are also a number of Children’s Environmental Health networks and organizations all over the place, and if everyone got together to share info and strategies a lot more progress could be made.

We need to act fast if we’re not to damage all our DNA permanently.

It would be great to have some inside info!
: )

Ps Alice, is the book available as a disc or PDF for people who can’t have toxic ink and paper around them?

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Leslie

09. Jan, 2009

This should be required reading for everyone who birthes a baby!

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Susie Collins

09. Jan, 2009

Alice, thanks so much for dropping by The Canary Report. I would fully support any group you’d like to start. Sharing your expertise through online social networking is a great way to connect with tons of people. Are you networking with green mommie bloggers? They are a force on the Internet! Check out The Smart Mama http://www.thesmartmama.com/bg/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 , and Green and Clean Mom http://www.greenandcleanmom.org/ , two very active sites that are using social media to connect with more mommies. Their blogrolls will connect you to even more green mommie bloggers. Are you on Twitter? If not, you should be! It’s the best place to network. I’ve been on a Twitter vacay for a few weeks, but have made some of my very best contacts there in the green blogosphere. Thank you for writing this very important book and please stay in touch with us so we can support you in your online pursuits.

Leslie, I totally agree! I think safe parenting should be taught in high school, this book could be one of the text books! If parents really knew what was in most commercial products, they would not purchase them. Nobody wants to poison their child.

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