Customer Reviews

Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Children

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Kudos to the Shabecoffs! Phil Shabecoff continues his distinguished career in science writing with this- his latest expose. Poisoned Profits hits the nail on the head. We are surrounded by hundreds to thousands of man made organic chemicals about which we know little to nothing. Business- as usual denies all. Wake up and smell the Bis-Phenols! I just ordered 50 copies for my environmental toxicology course!

I found this to be an absolutely excellent book explaining the chemicals in our everyday items, what testing (if any) was likely done on these chemicals, and how the government is being bought to allow these items to continue to be sold in the US. Makes me totally appalled. The back of the book has tons and tons of fabulous resources to follow up with your own investigation as well. I learned about the Superfund site in my neighborhood and now pray that they don't develop that area like they are talking about doing.

This book has really opened my eyes, and as a mother I want to do everything I can to protect my kids. Why use chemicals that could cause my girls cancer 20 yrs from now, when baking soda and vinegar work just as good? I see these commercials for all these products how dirt is bad and you need to spray these chemicals to get rid of the dirt. Ridiculous. I'm so glad I found this book because it really opened my eyes and makes me think about what I bring into the house.

From your Mama's breasts to the water you drank today your system is being bombarded by chemicals and toxins. Forget about the 10 most wanted notorious hitler toxins like DDT or asbestos. Instead now the assaults are slow and innocuous. Dinnertime! Well give me some Orange Roughy and asparagus and a glass of cold milk. Sounds healthy? NOT! Dioxin in milk / Mercury in fish / pesticides in your veggies. . . . You're immersed in the workplace and home. Formaldehyde in dishwashing soap, hydrocarbs in all that plastic you touch constantly (like the computer right there in your face). 80,000 chemicals listed on the inventory of Toxic Substance Control Act.
And who is watching over all this STUFF? The companies that make all this STUFF! A self written self regulated commerce. All with the primary interest of their bottom line $$$$ in mind.
You know someone with cancer. Everyone knows someone with cancer. 73 million children in America suffer from cancer, asthma, birth defects, ADHD, autism, developmental delays.
This book extensively documents the evidence and conspirators. Then goes onto empower the reader with self awareness. Social responsibility falls into your hands (fists). Stand up and fight the commerce which is poisoning your children.

The reviewers that claim this book is a bunch of scaremongering must still believe that smoking cigarettes is healthy. Just as the cigarette industry sowed the seeds of doubt for decades even while they knew their product was deadly, the chemical industry is now using the same tactics. Don't get me wrong, modern chemistry has done a lot of good, but when they knowingly sell products that have been linked in animals and increasingly in humans to effects such as cancer, infertility, obesity/insulin resistance/diabetes and attention disorders I think it is unconscionable. But, as with the tobacco story, producing these chemicals is a multi-billion dollar industry (that is per chemical for BPA and phthalates). If you made billions of dollars selling something you would fight to continue doing so also.

As a scientist I have read the primary literature on BPA and phthalates and it is appalling that these chemicals are still so widely used. While it is true that it is difficult to publish negative data, if there were no effects of these chemicals then we should find very few papers showing positive effects yet there are hundreds and hundreds with more published every year. And why is it that almost the only papers that show no negative effects were paid for by the chemical industry? Also, if these chemicals are harmless why is industry taking over positions at EPA and FDA and forcing the removal of independent scientists from government panels that assess risk? Just follow the money.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to absolutely prove (in humans) all of the effects that have been seen in animals because there simply are no populations that are unexposed and who would offer their children up for this research. The chemical industry also tries to convince people that animal studies are irrelevant to humans. If that is the case then why do we study pharmaceuticals in animals to determine efficacy before confirming the results in humans?

It is extremely unfortunate at best and criminal at worst when profits come before human health.

This book presents some individual cases followed by a chapter rich with studies linking various chemicals to their adverse effects. It then devotes several chapters to the reasons why essentially nothing is being done from industry cover-ups and buy offs (of individuals, congressmen and government officials) to the strategies used to sow doubt to the lack of government action and efforts during the Bush administration to loosen regulations (eg. Clean Air & Water).

The book is very well referenced and includes an appendix including steps one can take to lower exposure to some toxics.

Like family values? Planning to have children? Want your grandchildren to live long and prosper? Then buy and read this book. The Shabecoff's have produced a well researched and documented work that lifts the curtain on toxic waste and the effects on children. They show the political gamesmanship behind decisions that affect the health of children; the failure of corporations (with few exceptions) to act except in their own interests; and offer tangible alternatives in the appendices. The science is documented, the sources and listed, indexed, and readily accessible to the reader. The corporate ethics that value profit above life are clearly delineated. One could only wish that political platforms were so well crafted and acted upon. Please, read this book.

I hate when people call this "junk science". How is that exactly? What do these authors have to gain by going against some of the largest most powerful companies in the world. Every word in this book is dead-on. If we are going to care for our future generations we have to stop ignoring what is really going on with our toxic world.
Good for you guys. If nothing else, it is a well written interesting read.

Well researched and accessibly written, this book should be mandatory reading for all parents. Although well versed in the toxic nature of the modern food supply, I was not familiar with many of the other toxin sources noted by this work. I highly recommend this book.

First, I don't have much to add to what the five-star reviewers say on the positive side. And, as for anti-regulation, anti-government, libertarian-driven reviews? Ignore them.

That said, the Shabecoffs lose one star for sure (came close to more than that) with their treatment of autism, which includes not just going beyond scientific knowledge, but beyond even scientifically refuted pseudoknowledge.

**Thimerosal in vaccines DOES NOT CAUSE AUTISM!** And, yes, this has been scientifically refuted.

I would like to be believe the Shabecoffs corrected this in their updated paperback version, but I pretty much doubt it. And, that doubt that they engendered in this hardcopy is why I came close to three-starring it. In fact, if not for libertarian one-star reviews, I would have done so. At the least, without them, this is again why I wish Amazon allowed half-star reviews.

This book is just a sensationalist jumble of flawed science. It is one sided and unbalanced, and lacks convincing epidemiologic data to prove its points.

For conspiracy theorists who would like more reasons to hate big, evil corporations, and for hypochondriacs who are convinced that everything around them is making them and their children sick, this lack of evidence is not a problem.

For those who would rather try to find a more scientifically rigorous and fairer treatment of environmental toxins and health, I suggest that you look elsewhere.

This book is a great demonstration of all the weaknesses in human reasoning. I plan to use it in my courses. They actually place the rate of change in chemical polution next to rates of change of overdiagnosed illness, such as autism, and state that one is causing the other. This is not even the bad journalism we usually read or experience in the media. Calling it pseudoscience gives pseudoscience a bad name. It is so unfortunate that press release science and the general way that all media treat science findings results in this kind of scare. Scientific journals have publication bias, in which studies are published that have positive findings. Studies that do not show an effect are not even written up by the scientists; they know the paper will not be accepted. Journalists take this bias to an exponential level. No one pays attention unless the sky is falling. The general atmosphere of fear cultivates this rumination on "what is eroding my body now?". This fear is fertile ground for books like this and the many fears expressed by parents for their children. Guys, we are doing OK. We don't need to convert minor rashes and the normal behavior of boys into heavy metal exposure and autism.