Amazon.com: Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects Our Health (9780307397133): Rick Smith, Bruce Lourie: Books

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Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects Our Health
 
 
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Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects Our Health [Import] [Paperback]

Rick Smith (Author), Bruce Lourie (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)


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Book Description

April 6, 2010
Funny, thought-provoking, and incredibly disturbing, Slow Death by Rubber Duck reveals that just the living of daily life creates a chemical soup inside each of us.

Pollution is no longer just about belching smokestacks and ugly sewer pipes - now, it's personal.

The most dangerous pollution has always come from commonplace items in our homes and workplaces. Smith and Lourie ingested and inhaled a host of things that surround all of us all the time. This book exposes the extent to which we are poisoned every day of our lives. For this book, over the period of a week - the kind of week that would be familiar to most people - the authors use their own bodies as the reference point and tell the story of pollution in our modern world, the miscreant corporate giants who manufacture the toxins, the weak-kneed government officials who let it happen, and the effects on people and families across the globe. Parents and concerned citizens will have to read this book.

Key concerns raised in Slow Death by Rubber Duck:
• Flame-retardant chemicals from electronics and household dust polluting our blood.
• Toxins in our urine caused by leaching from plastics and run-of-the-mill shampoos, toothpastes and deodorant.
• Mercury in our blood from eating tuna.
• The chemicals that build up in our body when carpets and upholstery off-gas.

Ultimately hopeful, the book empowers readers with some simple ideas for protecting themselves and their families, and changing things for the better.


From the Hardcover edition.


Editorial Reviews

Review

"Indispensable and unputdownable, Smith and Lourie take our — and their — toxic temperature. As scary as it all is, the really surprising part is how easily we can start cleaning up our act."
— Ann-Marie MacDonald, author of The Way the Crow Flies and Fall On Your Knees

"Open this book and you'll never look at a rubber duck the same way again. . . . [Slow Death by Rubber Duck] goes beyond scare tactics to solutions that we can all apply to our daily lives."
Green Living"A fascinating and frightening read leavened by frequent references to pop culture — everything from Saturday Night Live episodes to quotes from Miss Marple — as well as the authors' brio in using their own bodies as test subjects. . . . Important and timely."
The Globe and Mail

"Alarming, engrossing, and just plain loony at times, their experiments drive home just how mundanely day-to-day our mass chemical poisoning has become."
— Adria Vasil, author of Ecoholic


From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

As Executive Director of Environmental Defence, Rick Smith is one of Canada’s leading environmentalists. Bruce Lourie is an environmental professional with expertise in toxic pollution and mercury. He is president of the Ivey Foundation. Sarah Dopp is a veteran grassroots organizer, political staffer and campaigner. They live in Toronto.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage Canada (April 6, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0307397130
  • ISBN-13: 978-0307397133
  • Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,294,435 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars QUICK READ FOR SLOW DEATH --and a MUST read, May 6, 2009
5.0 out of 5 stars Don't let the cute title fool you. This is an important book.

I purchased SLOW DEATH BY RUBBER DUCK from the authors at the Green Living show in Toronto on April 26. I am very glad that I did.

While reading it, I found myself nervously moving off the overstuffed sofa and Scotchgard-saturated dining room chairs while I realized that my now-past love of tuna sushi led to the early symptoms of mercury poisoning.

The chemicals are everywhere, and this book tells you why. It is written in a jolly, anecdotal style that contrasts with the horrific information inside.

Everyone should read this book. It should be required reading for all politicians.

Buy it and read it often. The first chapter will be a shock, the rest will have your jaw dropping.
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Well documented info but the ultimate message is hopelessness, November 12, 2010
Well researched and documented book that shows its essentially impossible to dodge the *hundreds* of environmental bullets being shot at consumers on a dialy basis.

I already knew this, but reading it all in one place in this book led me to conclude that if its unavoidable, and that hundreds of chemicals (some of them confirmed toxins, carcinogens and terratogens while the rest are just not yet studied) are already in everyone's bodies, its not much better worrying about what you can't change.

Which is only to say the news this book delivers is rather dire
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