Our Daily Poison
From Pesticides to Packaging, How Chemicals Have Contaminated the Food Chain and Are Making Us Sick
Published on 19. July 2019
289 pages
978-1-59558-930-9 (ISBN)
Description
"An enlightening and deeply disturbing account" of the dangerous chemicals that have infiltrated our food, by the Rachel Carson Prize-winning journalist (Booklist).
Our Daily Poison is "a gripping and urgent book" for anyone concerned about democracy, corporate power, or public health (Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved). In it, award-winning journalist and filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin travels across North America, Europe, and Asia to document the shocking array of chemicals we encounter in our daily lives-from the pesticides that blanket our crops to the additives and plastics that contaminate our food-and their effects on our health over time.
Following the trail of the synthetic molecules in our environment and our food, Robin traces the ugly history of industrial chemical production, as well as the shoddy regulatory system for chemical products that still operates today. Using scientific studies, expert testimony, and interviews with farmworkers suffering from acute chronic poisoning, Robin demonstrates how corporate interests-and our own ignorance-may be costing us our lives.
"What Rachel Carson's groundbreaking Silent Spring did for the environmental movement, Robin is doing for awareness of toxins in the food chain." -Publishers Weekly
"This may be one of the most important books of the year." -Kirkus Reviews
"Full of facts, stories, and wisdom." -The Huffington Post
Our Daily Poison is "a gripping and urgent book" for anyone concerned about democracy, corporate power, or public health (Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved). In it, award-winning journalist and filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin travels across North America, Europe, and Asia to document the shocking array of chemicals we encounter in our daily lives-from the pesticides that blanket our crops to the additives and plastics that contaminate our food-and their effects on our health over time.
Following the trail of the synthetic molecules in our environment and our food, Robin traces the ugly history of industrial chemical production, as well as the shoddy regulatory system for chemical products that still operates today. Using scientific studies, expert testimony, and interviews with farmworkers suffering from acute chronic poisoning, Robin demonstrates how corporate interests-and our own ignorance-may be costing us our lives.
"What Rachel Carson's groundbreaking Silent Spring did for the environmental movement, Robin is doing for awareness of toxins in the food chain." -Publishers Weekly
"This may be one of the most important books of the year." -Kirkus Reviews
"Full of facts, stories, and wisdom." -The Huffington Post
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Marie-Monique Robin
Our Daily Poison
From Pesticides to Packaging, How Chemicals Have Contaminated the Food Chain and are Making Us Sick
Book
06/2016
The New Press
€19.00
Available immediately
Marie-Monique Robin
Our Daily Poison
From Pesticides to Packaging, How Chemicals Have Contaminated the Food Chain and are Making Us Sick
Book
01/2015
The New Press
€27.50
Article not available at the moment
Person
Marie-Monique Robin is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. She received the 1995 Albert-Londres Prize for investigative journalism, the French Senate's Best Political Documentary Award, and the Rachel Carson Prize. She is the director and producer of more than thirty documentaries and investigative reports and the author of "The World According to Monsanto" (The New Press) and "The Photos of the Century," among other works. She lives outside Paris.
Content
- Intro
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Introduction: Knowledge Is Power
- PART I: PESTICIDES ARE POISONS
- 1. The Ruffec Appeal and the Battle of Paul François
- 2. Chemical Weapons Recycled for Agriculture
- 3. "Elixirs of Death"
- 4. Ill from Pesticides
- 5. Pesticides and Cancer: Consistent Studies
- 6. The Unstoppable Rise of Pesticides and Neurodegenerative Diseases
- PART II: SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY: MANUFACTURING DOUBT
- 7. The Sinister Side of Progress
- 8. Industry Lays Down the Law
- 9. Mercenaries of Science
- 10. Institutional Lies
- 11. An Epidemic of Chronic Diseases
- PART III: REGULATION AT INDUSTRY'S BECK AND CALL
- 12. The Colossal Scientific Masquerade Behind Poisons' "Acceptable Daily Intakes"
- 13. The Unsolvable Conundrum of "Maximum Residue Limits"
- 14. Aspartame and Regulation: How Industry Is Pulling the Strings
- 15. The Dangers of Aspartame and the Silence of Public Authorities
- PART IV: THE SHOCKING SCANDAL OF ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS
- 16. "Men in Peril": Is the Human Species in Danger?
- 17. Distilbene: The "Perfect Model"?
- 18. The Case of Bisphenol A: A Pandora's Box
- 19. The Cocktail Effect
- Conclusion: A Paradigm Shift
- Notes
- Index
- About the Authors
