Book review: “Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Children"

The 20th century will undoubtedly be remembered in history as the century of chemistry. Don't we all remember “Better Living Through Chemistry?” And now as we stand on the banks of polluted rivers, drink water laced with synthetic chemicals, radioactivity, and psychoactive drugs, and stare with disbelief at the statistics of childhood diseases, we cannot but cry out: “How did we get here?”

It all started so well. . . Mankind (yes, it was man-kind then) found ways to kill mosquitoes and all the other little crawling critters, fly to the moon, make water-proof clothing, and load food with preservatives so that it would last forever on the shelves. Yet the story seem to have ended in little glory or little happiness – except for the companies who produced all these chemicals – and enjoyed unprecedented wealth. Profits for some, poison for others.

The health consequences, deadly fallout from 20th century chemical manufacturing, is the theme of the just published book Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Children, authored by renowned journalists Alice and Philip Shabecoff. The book is an essential read – a call to action that presents, incisively and sharply, the state of the evidence. As the authors write, “We have cast our book as a crime story… what is happening to our children as a result of toxic substances in the environment is criminal.”

The book gives voice to families deeply affected by the toxic chemicals dumped into the environment and gives the due share of acknowledgement – or scathing criticism – to the good, the bad, and the ugly, those who fight on the side of the people and those who do everything to protect the profits of the chemical manufacturers. But the real gift of the book is to also point to a sense of hope, much needed for all of us as we are fighting the uphill battle against toxic chemicals.

As the authors write, “We can obtain justice for our children!” because of our values, because of who we are and because of our love and care for our children.

The United States is a fortunate nation. We possess a spacious and beautiful land… Most of us enjoy relatively good health and increasing life spans…. If America cannot take care of its children, who can? And many of the values we espouse—respect for sanctity of life, our responsibility as stewards of God’s creation, the centrality of the family, caring for the rights and needs of the vulnerable, the duty of service to the community—would seem to dictate that we give the highest priority to nurturing life and providing our children with an unpoisoned environment.

Yet, to arrive to this level of protection for our children, much work is needed—starting with a change on a personal, family level and going all the way up to the change in policies and legislation that will defend the health of people rather than corporations. We can do it! But we better start now.