The Body Toxic: How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being » (Bargain)

Nena Baker is a former staff writer for The Arizona Republic and The Oregonian. Her award-winning investigation of Nike's Indonesian factories led to numerous improvements for workers.

www.thebodytoxic.com

We are running a collective chemical fever that we cannot break. Everyone everywhere now carries a dizzying array of chemical contaminants, the by-products of modern industry and innovation that contribute to a host of developmental deficits and health problems in ways just now being understood. These toxic substances, unknown to our grandparents, accumulate in our fat, bones, blood, and organs as a consequence of womb-to-tomb exposure to industrial substances as common as the products that contain them. Almost everything we encounter—from soap to soup cans and computers to clothing—contributes to a chemical load unique to each of us. Scientists studying the phenomenon refer to it as “chemical body burden,” and in The Body Toxic, the investigative journalist Nena Baker explores the many factors that have given rise to this condition—from manufacturing breakthroughs to policy decisions to political pressure to the demands of popular culture. While chemical advances have helped raise our standard of living, making our lives easier and safer in many ways, there are costs to these conveniences that chemical companies would rather consumers never knew about. Baker draws back the curtain on this untold impact and assesses where we go from here.

The Washington Post - Seth Shulman

Baker has written an illuminating, consumer-oriented book that sifts through some of the latest findings about the dangers of everyday chemicals…Baker's readable chapters separately tackle specific toxic threats, such as the widely used herbicide atrazine or the now-notorious bisphenol A, which was (until recently) widely used as a component in plastic water bottles. Throughout The Body Toxic, Baker gives consumers information to help them make "informed decisions," and she includes a list of a dozen steps she has taken to minimize her exposure to toxic chemicals.

Introduction Coming Clean 3

1 A Chemical Stew: Body Burden 11

2 Chemicals We've Loved: Consumer Conveniences 33

3 Kermit's Blues: Atrazine and Frogs 57

4 What Price Beauty? Phthalates and You 88

5 Up in Flames: Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers 112

6 The Goods on Bad Plastic: Bisphenol A 141

7 Out of the Frying Pan and onto the Paper: Perfluorinated Chemicals 163

8 Reaching Ahead: New Policies 190

Epilogue: My List and Beyond 212

Appendix 1 It's All About You 217

Appendix 2 Environmental and Public-Health Groups That Get It 225

Appendix 3 Learn More from Government Sources 229

Notes 233

Acknowledgments 257

Index 259