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Stop, I Want Off Now The Industrial Revolution ushered in a lot of nice toys and some really convenient products - if it hasn't made our lives a little more frantic - but with this book, and now a host of other books like it, we see that the end results of our mad-dash to make and remake the world using our new scientific know-how is taking a huge toll on human health: Sperm counts are plummeting, cancer-rates are sky high, the immune system is being undermined, and hormone-mimics are quite possibly eroding our intelligence and altering our behavior. Without realizing it, we have put ourselves in grave peril, and ironically enough it is a cadre of scientists (life scientists, that is, ecologists and biologists) who are sounding the wake-up call -- ironic because it was their ilk, the chemists and scientific industrialists, who brought us pesticides, PCBs, and other toxic substances in the first place. The sad fact is, we all have these substances in our body now. There is no way to escape the new, chemicalized environment we have constructed. So in other words, there is no getting off this joy ride. That said, if you are interested in learning about natural detoxification processes, read "Hormone Deception" (Berkson, 2000). There is a lot of useful information in there, as well as a chapter about how diet and excercise can help keep these substnaces at lower levels by speeding up and aiding the body's natural detoxification processes. In a nutshell, she suggested to eating green, yellow and red veggies, taking in a lot of protein (nuts and seeds work fine for veggetarians), getting a regular dose of antioxidents, and excercising until you sweat for 30 minutes six days a week. For more detailed information, read the book. Take care of your body. Tread lightly on the planet. Good luck! the usual environmental bromides This book perfectly exemplifies mainstream environmentalism. On the one hand, the book's tone is alarmist. Yet on the other hand, discusssion of (and mere mention of) perfluoryl octanyl sulfonates, and fluorocarbons is conspicuously absent. The chemical villians fingered in this book are not the ones that are the most persistant. I came away with the feeling that this book was intended as disinformation as much as information. Anyway, the fact that the preface was written by Algore should tip off intelegent and informed readers. This book should be mandatory reading The book is amazing it is pleasant to read and extremely informative. All those who are concerned about the earth, your children, and existence on human beings should read this book. One of the best books I have ever read. This book should be mandatory reading in high school and college. There is no original data to support the results.... The entire study that forms the foundation of this book could not be duplicated by other scientists. It makes for a scary read if that's what you want, but its based on science fiction. The research work was found to be bogus and the author of the original research has been banded from any Federal Grants for 5 years. In August of 1999 a committe of the National Academy of Sciences Research Council reported that there was no evidence that chemicals in the environment were disrupting hormonal processes in humans and wildlife. A Chilling Book The book "Our Stolen Future" by Theo Colborn and John Peterson Myers, two leading environmentalists and Dianne Dumanoski, an environmental journalist, list the compelling effects of chemical contamination revealed from wildlife studies, laboratory experiments and human data. Synthetic chemicals are now linked to reproductive problems: a low sperm count (the male sperm count has plummeted by 50% since 1940 worldwide), infertility, genital and urethra abnormalities, the feminization of males, the masculization of females and hormonally triggered human diseases such as breast and prostrate cancer. Other symptoms include neurological and developmental disorders in children, the abnormal functioning of the thyroid, endocrine and immune system and mental and emotional development. The danger we face in being exposed to industrial chemical contaminates is not simply disease and death. Something more sinister than straightforward poisoning may be occurring-the actual destruction of our human potential and our ability to reproduce. Carcinogens are poisons that kill cells or attack DNA, other man-made chemicals target hormones. These synthetic hormones mimic the effects of natural hormones, usually the female hormone estrogen, by altering the natural synthesis of hormones or altering hormone receptor levels. The effects most often appear in the offspring, not the exposed parent. Many mothers are unknowingly passing their chemical legacy on to their babies through their womb and through their breast milk. Eighty thousand chemicals have been registered with the Environmental Protection Agency in the last 60 years. Twenty new chemicals enter the market a week. Few are properly tested. These chemicals include pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, industrial detergents, and household cleaners. They are found everywhere in our water, air, soil, and food. They may even lurk in unexpected places such as the nonylphenols and the alkylphenols found in plastics and personal care items. The chemicals may be low in the environment but they resist breakdown and accumulate in the body fat of humans over time. Because of food contamination the concentrations are higher in the bodies of animals up the food chain and in humans. This chronic synthetic hormone exposure is unprecedented in our evolutionary experience. However, most research money for investigating the effects of environment contamination of health goes to cancer studies. Also, because industrial chemicals have become a major sector of the global economy, any evidence linking them to serious human and ecological health problems is met with opposition. Colburn, Myers and Dumanoski chillingly warn, "There is no clean, uncontaminated place, nor any human being who hasn't acquired a considerable load of persistent hormone-disrupting chemicals ... we are altering the fundamental systems that support life." What can we do? We need to get political. We have to clean up the toxins in our environment and ourselves to reclaim our future. See also:
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