Flynn's Duck by jandhands, on Flickr

Maybe you’ve heard the rumblings about BPA, teflon, mercury, PBBs, PBDEs, triclosan, 2,4-D, or phthalates, but don’t know what the fuss is about. Maybe you shrug and assume if it’s touching our lives it’s been tested and is safe. Maybe you suspect differently but are overwhelmed by the thought of that much change all at once. Maybe you have done some research, but find that there are too few studies to bother taking action.

I’ve been in each of these situations over the course of the last several years. As I come across issues, I do some research only to find three camps:

  • This stuff will kill you. Avoid it at all costs. (Fear)
  • It’s gotta be safe or the government wouldn’t allow it. (Ignorance*)
  • Maybe it is dangerous, but it’s everywhere so it’s useless to fight it. (Hopelessness)

Over and over again, these are the three viewpoints I hear. I’ve even heard each of these come out of my own mouth at one time or another!

I picked up Slow Death by Rubber Duck at the library a few weeks ago because I thought the title and the cover photo of a cute little yellow ducky were hilarious and titillating. In its pages, I found compelling evidence, enjoyable reading, sobering facts and an action plan.

Since 2005, authors Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie have been involved with Toxic Nation in Canada, testing the blood of citizens from all walks of life for 130 pollutants. The people tested would always ask the same questions: “How did this get in me?” “How do I get it out?” “If I reduce my exposure to it, will it go away?” Since science offered no answers, the authors set about creating their own experiment, turning themselves into human lab rats.

The results of their experiment were immediate and conclusive. Exposure produced increases of toxins in their blood and urine, some by more than a thousand-fold, detoxification after exposure provided improvement for most pollutants.

The book is well researched but not dull to read with lots of quotes from TV, films and music, old ad copy (“DDT is good for meeee!”) and photos. The arc a concept rides from being laughable to believable to enforceable is well-demonstrated, as is the idea that Everymom and Everydad have louder voices than they know.

The sub-title “The Secret Danger of Everyday Things” might seem alarmist, but the book offers a whole chapter of hope. You can affect your health, and your children’s futures by making simple changes to your life and your purchases. The “powers that be” will hear our concerns as we become educated and able to speak intelligently about the pollutants in our kitchens, bathrooms and toy boxes. Slow Death by Rubber Duck is a great primer for this revolution.

*Please know I am not calling any individual that espouses this view ignorant. I am saying that the assumption that these untested substances are safe is based on lack of information.

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