Poisoned Nation: Pollution, Greed, and the Rise of Deadly Epidemicsby Loretta Schwartz-Nobel
240 pages
St. Martin's Press
August 21, 2007
ISBN-10: 0312327978
An award-winning investigative journalist links the soaring epidemics of cluster illnesses and many other diseases to the chemical contamination of our water, air, food, and everyday products for the profit and power of a reckless few.
With irrefutable evidence and moving personal stories of the sick and dying, Loretta Schwartz-Nobel demonstrates that the human equivalent of global warming is already upon us. She shows how governments of both parties operate in tandem with America’s most notorious polluters and how they have deceived the public, buried evidence of spreading disease, and suppressed critical scientific data. She traces relationships between organizations whose products cause diseases and those who profit from diagnosing and treating them, as well as their efforts to avoid research into environmental causes and possible cures.
Poisoned Nation is an urgent call for action that delineates the problem with such clarity that the truth shines through. The author issues a plea to religious leaders of all faiths to work together for change, to create a movement to defeat greed and guide us toward a safer, healthier future.
Poisoned Nation Reveals:
- Americans are being denied urgent health information about the poisoning of our water, food, air, everyday products, and vaccines for the short-term profit of a reckless few.
- The blood of every baby born today is already contaminated by more than two hundred industrial chemicals, pollutants, flame-retardants, and carcinogens.
- Perchlorate, a highly toxic chemical used in the manufacture of rocket fuel and linked to thyroid disease, cancer, and a host of other illnesses, has already entered the drinking water of at least thirty-five U.S. states and is currently threatening the health of untold millions.
- Despite a global ban on methyl bromide, an acutely toxic chemical known to cause devastating birth defects, it is still being sprayed on Christmas trees, fruits, and vegetables sold in America. The EPA has refused to reveal the extent of methyl bromide’s use and our country’s stored supply of the product. - The soaring epidemic of autism could not have taken place without the cooperation of drug companies, the government, scientists, and health officials. The worldwide poisoning of children during routine vaccinations continues today, especially in Third World countries.
- The FDA allows thousands of cosmetic hair dyes and personal-care products known to contain carcinogens to remain unregulated and to be sold daily to millions of American men, women, and children even as links with cancer have been clearly established.
- The American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute have long known that mammograms used for diagnosis actually increase the risk of breast cancer, especially in younger women, yet they continue to recommend this diagnostic method. But it is not too late.
Interfaith religious groups working together still have the collective power, the resources, and the moral obligation to demand and implement change. Praise for Growing Up Empty“Loretta Schwartz-Nobel’s Growing Up Empty is a forceful reminder of the great shame in our society that hunger still plagues millions of Americans. She puts a human face on hunger around us and shines a moral spotlight on a problem that is largely ignored. More than just a forceful call to action, Growing Up Empty is a mandate for reform.”
—Senator Edward M. Kennedy
About the Author
Loretta Schwartz-Nobel is the author of six previous books. Among her awards are the Women in Communications Award, the Society of Professional Journalists Award, the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism Award, and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for outstanding coverage of the problems of the disadvantaged.
'Poisoned Nation' ludicrous
Reviewer Ros Smith, Charleston Net
Sunday, October 21, 2007
A shadowy figure on a grassy knoll in Dallas, the mysterious death of a blond bombshell and the Roswell crash site are compelling topics for conspiracy theories. "Poisoned Nation" exploits our persecution paranoia by investigating the contamination of the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe.
Rocket fuel, methyl bromide and mercury are just a few toxic chemicals that, according to the author, are infecting our digestive systems, lungs and breast milk. Loretta Schwartz-Nobel chronicles the voices of the sick and dying, which resonate with the horrors of cancer, asthma, autism, lung illnesses and rare forms of disease.
Schwartz-Nobel uses carefully chosen facts and statistics, from resources such as the Food and Drug Administration and National Center for Health Statistics, to draw superficial conclusions. For example, the skyrocketing rates of asthma in Harlem must be due to the air pollutants that big business chose to ignore. She uses unscientific quotes; for example, pediatric asthma occurs because "pound for pound, children breathe more air." Her ludicrous statements are served up with hyperbole and a sense of outrage at our government.
This book is sure to engage the furtive imaginations of those who believe that the moon landing did not happen. For the rest of us, this book should be placed somewhere between the fictions of the Bermuda Triangle and UFO phenomena. A word of warning for the believers: Don't drink the water, eat the tuna or use sunscreen.
