environmental toxins
dblum | May 18, 2010One of my treasured books from the 1930s is called "100,000,000 Guinea Pigs", written by a pair of consumer protection advocates named Arthur Kallet and F.J. Schlink. The book, born of a crusade to end unregulated use of industrial chemicals, is a wonderful mixture of painstaking research and angry invective.
"Let your voice be heard loudly and often against indifference, ignorance and avarice," the authors wrote in my 1935 edition (the ninth printing of the book.) "In adulteration and misrepresentation lurks a menace to your health that ought no longer be tolerated."
The 100,000,000 million…
dblum | May 7, 2010The title of this post is taken from today's opinion piece by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, which focuses on carcinogens in our daily life and our failure to regulate exposure to dangerous compounds.
Kristof's point is that we should do a better job of protecting ourselves and our environment from industrial compounds. No argument there. He goes on to say that a "proliferation of chemicals in water, foods, air and household products" is suspected as a factor in rising cancer rates. Yes, argument here.
Because, geez, water is a chemical compound (hydrogen and oxygen). And the…