Sandra Steingraber, biologist, poet, and survivor of cancer in her twenties, brings all three perspectives to bear on the most important health and human rights issue of our time: the growing body of evidence linking cancer to environmental contaminations. Her scrupulously researched scientific analysis ranges from the alarming worldwide patterns of cancer incidence to the sabotage wrought by cancer-promoting substances on the intricate workings of human cells. In a gripping personal narrative, she travels from hospital waiting rooms to hazardous waste sites and from farmhouse kitchens to incinerator hearings, bringing to life stories of communities in her hometown and around the country as they confront decades of industrial and agricultural recklessness.Living Downstream is the first book to bring together toxics-release data—now finally made available through under the right-to-know laws—and newly released cancer registry data. Sandra Steingraber is also the first to trace with such compelling precision the entire web of connections between our bodies and the ecological world in which we eat, drink, breathe, and work. Her book strikes a hopeful note throughout, for, while we can do little to alter our genetic inheritance, we can do a great deal to eliminate the environmental contributions to cancer, and she shows us where to begin.Living Downstream is for all readers who care about the health of their families and future generations. Sandra Steingraber’s brave, clear, and careful voice is certain to break the paralyzing silence on this subject that persists more than three decades after Rachel Carson’s great early warning.
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Sandra Steingraber, a poet and biologist, writes with extraordinary grace and clarity about that most depressing of subjects: cancer, a disease that sends you into an unfamiliar territory where all the rules of human conduct are alien. That territory, she suggests, is expanding as chemically poisoned environments begin to take their toll on their human inhabitants. This interaction between the disease and compromised natural zones takes her text into fascinating arguments. Along the way, Steingraber looks at community efforts to reverse the effects of carcinogenic toxins, such as an Iowa farming group's decision to replace chemical herbicides with natural methods of pest control, following the principle of the least toxic alternative. She also suggests that with proper foresight we can do much to make our environments less dangerous.
From Library Journal
In this "scientific narrative" on the environmental causes of cancer, biologist Steingraber weaves a compelling story that blends personal experience (her friend Jeannie died of a rare cancer of the spinal cord; she herself is a victim of bladder cancer), with a passion for scientific detail. She examines cancer registry data, the rise of the West's petrochemical-based economy, and the effects of substances such as DDT, dioxins, and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals on human health and ecosystems. Steingraber uses data and stories from her native state of Illinois to illustrate the overuse of incineration as a treatment technology for the "reduction" of hazardous waste and the misuse and misapplication of pesticides. She asks "why so much silence still surrounds questions about cancer's connection to the environment, and why so much scientific inquiry into this issue is still considered preliminary." This question is critical to Steingraber's argument; at least 60 different occupations have elevated death rates from cancer. While not easy reading, her work is a powerful addition to the literature on cancer's relationship to environmental exposure. Strongly recommended.?Susan Mart, Univ. of Colorado Lib., Denver
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Informative & well-written; confirms Rachel Carson's fears.,
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This review is from: Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks At Cancer And The Environment (Hardcover)
Early on it is evident Steingraber is an ecologist (informative) and a poet (delightful writing) - exceptionally rewarding read: packed with data interwoven with relevant anecdotes from her life. When you finish reading this I urge you to read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring if you haven't already. Steingraber presents the overwhelming evidence confirming Carson's early insights, fears and predictions.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Two Views: Scientific & Personal,
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This review is from: Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks At Cancer And The Environment (Hardcover)
Ms Steingraber provides poignant views of the environment where she and others are bathed in toxins. Her chapters are simply titled air, water, fire, ... , but they each delve deeply into both science and personal history. Ms Steingraber knows her science and at the same time has a wonderful gift for conveying it to others less knowledgeable. On the personal level, the author relates very closely to the place where she grew up and its effects on her immediate environment where she became a cancer victim at the age of 20. My only disappointment was that the author did not quantitatively describe the various risks. Specifically, what is the relative level of risk of eating meat versus being a vegetarian? All in all a wonderful and very readable book that I would strongly recommend to all.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Steingraber reveals the truth everyone should know!,
This review is from: Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks At Cancer And The Environment (Hardcover)
This book, together with OUR STOLEN FUTURE, reveal the truth chemical corporations have kept secret since the 1930's. All of us our now carrying endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC's or "gender benders") hidden in our fat cells which are altering our sexuality, our ability to reproduce, our short term memory, our health...perhaps the very survival of the species. Steingraber makes this data accesible while she invokes a sense of land and family, as well as the stigma of cancer. Read this book! Then you can decide what you want to drink and eat---for yourself and those you love! V.S. Ferguson/author of INANNA RETURNS
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