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Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence and Survival? A Scientific Detective Story
"A critically important book that forces us to ask new questions about the synthetic chemicals that we have spread across this earth."—former vice president Al Gore , author of An Inconvenient Truth
Our Stolen Future examines the ways that certain synthetic chemicals interfere with hormonal messages involved in the control of growth and development, especially in the fetus.
The developing fetus uses these natural hormonal messages, which come from both from its own hormone system and from its mother, to guide development. They influence virtually all of the growing individual's characteristics, from determining its sex to controlling the numbers of toes and fingers to shaping intricate details of brain structure.
Scientific research over the last 50 years has revealed that this hormonal control of development is vulnerable to disruption by synthetic chemicals. Through a variety of mechanisms, hormone-disrupting chemicals (also known as endocrine disrupting chemicals or endocrine disruptors) interfere with the natural messages and alter the course of development, with potential effects on virtually all aspects of bodily function.
Our Stolen Future explores the scientific discovery of endocrine disruption. The investigation begins with wildlife, as it was in animals that the first hints of widespread endocrine disruption appeared. The book then examines a series of experiments examining endocrine disruption of animals in the laboratory which show conclusively that fetal exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals can wreak life-long damage. These experiments also reveal some of the biological processes by which these chemicals have their effects, and that endocrine disruption effects can be caused by exposure to infinitesimally small amounts of contaminant. Moving from animals to people, Our Stolen Future summarizes a series of well-studied examples where people have been affected by endocrine disrupting chemicals, most notably the synthetic hormone dietheylstilbestrol (DES), to which several million women were exposed through misguided medical attempts to manage difficult pregnancies in the 1950s, '60s and '70s.
Our Stolen Future then asks a broader, more difficult and more controversial set of questions. Given what is known from wildlife and laboratory studies, and from examples of well-studied human exposure, and given that exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals in the real world is widespread at levels comparable to those sufficient to cause animal harm, what effects should health scientists be looking for in people in general? Effects to be expected include declines in fertility and other impacts on the reproductive system of both men and women, impairments in disease resistance, and erosions in intelligence.
Our Stolen Future examines the ways that certain synthetic chemicals interfere with hormonal messages involved in the control of growth and development, especially in the fetus.
The developing fetus uses these natural hormonal messages, which come from both from its own hormone system and from its mother, to guide development. They influence virtually all of the growing individual's characteristics, from determining its sex to controlling the numbers of toes and fingers to shaping intricate details of brain structure.
Scientific research over the last 50 years has revealed that this hormonal control of development is vulnerable to disruption by synthetic chemicals. Through a variety of mechanisms, hormone-disrupting chemicals (also known as endocrine disrupting chemicals or endocrine disruptors) interfere with the natural messages and alter the course of development, with potential effects on virtually all aspects of bodily function.
Our Stolen Future explores the scientific discovery of endocrine disruption. The investigation begins with wildlife, as it was in animals that the first hints of widespread endocrine disruption appeared. The book then examines a series of experiments examining endocrine disruption of animals in the laboratory which show conclusively that fetal exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals can wreak life-long damage. These experiments also reveal some of the biological processes by which these chemicals have their effects, and that endocrine disruption effects can be caused by exposure to infinitesimally small amounts of contaminant. Moving from animals to people, Our Stolen Future summarizes a series of well-studied examples where people have been affected by endocrine disrupting chemicals, most notably the synthetic hormone dietheylstilbestrol (DES), to which several million women were exposed through misguided medical attempts to manage difficult pregnancies in the 1950s, '60s and '70s.
Our Stolen Future then asks a broader, more difficult and more controversial set of questions. Given what is known from wildlife and laboratory studies, and from examples of well-studied human exposure, and given that exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals in the real world is widespread at levels comparable to those sufficient to cause animal harm, what effects should health scientists be looking for in people in general? Effects to be expected include declines in fertility and other impacts on the reproductive system of both men and women, impairments in disease resistance, and erosions in intelligence.
336 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1996
52 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
October 23, 2007
As a former molecular biologist, I learned about hormone disruptors in school in the early nineties. This book does a good job of describing the problem to the average person. I learned about some cases that I had not heard about when I was learning about it. The book could, however, be much more effective with more diagrams and actual pictures of the developmental problems that result from hormone disruption. Maybe this could be added if there ever is an updated version of the book.
August 1, 2012
My introduction to Our Stolen Future came about ten years ago at a sustainable packing conference when a young German woman sat down at our table for lunch and asked: "Did you know that male sperm counts have gone down 50 percent in the last 50 years?" I lost my appetite, but at least my interest in this topic was successfully piqued.
Our Stolen Future deals with endocrine disruptors and endocrine mimickers present in-among other things-plastic packaging that, through coming into contact with food, reduces male sperm count. When Rachel Carson's Silent Spring came out 40 years ago, DDT was already widely used to control mosquitoes. Although DDT did have an impact in controlling malaria, it also had a fatal impact on wildlife: and toxic chemicals made their way into the human food chain through the birds and fish that fed on these DDT-exposed mosquitoes. In fact, students at my university (years before I attended) collected some dead birds around campus after an aerial spraying of DDT, hung them from a clothesline strung across the middle of campus and announced with a scoreboard: DDT 15, Birds 0. Our Stolen Future is a somewhat more scientific attempt to sound the alarm on chemicals in plastics, PCBs and other chemicals that infiltrate our ecosystem on a daily basis.
Like DES (a synthetic female hormone used to stop breast milk and as a ‘morning after' pill, and readily available to woman for 40 years), DDT successfully mimics natural estrogen. Possible DES side-effects include vaginal cancer, uterine deformities, miscarriages, undescended testicles and devastated T-helper cells (which are essential to the body's immune system). Hormones and hormone receptors fit together like lock and key and activate different responses at required times, but when hormone mimics or hormone blockers (which make it impossible for natural hormones to bind to the receptors) enter the body through DDT, DES or a host of other chemicals in plastics and pesticides, the responses become incorrect.
PCBs and other persistent chemicals like dioxins and furans become magnified and concentrated as they move up the food chain-stored in fatty tissues until they reach the top predators. As PCBs move from phytoplankton to zooplankton to larger and larger fish and then to herring gulls, the chemical concentration in animal tissue can be magnified up to 25 million times! Effects on the animal kingdom range from insufficiently thick eggshells and infertile populations to birth defects and cancer. Synthetic chemicals often confuse the hormone-producing glands (e.g. the thyroid and pituitary), which means that the body doesn't know what to turn on, turn off, speed up or slow down, and this can cause defects or disease in organs like the testicles, ovaries and pancreas.
Water run through PVC tubing comes out containing Pnonylphenol, which is not only added to polystyrene and PVC as an antioxidant and to make plastics more stable, but is also found in contraceptive creams like nonoxynol-9. Also, polycarbonates and plastic linings of food tins contain P-nonylphenol and bisphenol-A, which leach in to water and food from packaging and act as hormone blockers. Even reusable plastic bottles can seriously damage our health.For such a scientifically daunting subject, the authors of Our Stolen Future have produced a very readable and understandable book that even people without a solid scientific background can appreciate.
Our Stolen Future deals with endocrine disruptors and endocrine mimickers present in-among other things-plastic packaging that, through coming into contact with food, reduces male sperm count. When Rachel Carson's Silent Spring came out 40 years ago, DDT was already widely used to control mosquitoes. Although DDT did have an impact in controlling malaria, it also had a fatal impact on wildlife: and toxic chemicals made their way into the human food chain through the birds and fish that fed on these DDT-exposed mosquitoes. In fact, students at my university (years before I attended) collected some dead birds around campus after an aerial spraying of DDT, hung them from a clothesline strung across the middle of campus and announced with a scoreboard: DDT 15, Birds 0. Our Stolen Future is a somewhat more scientific attempt to sound the alarm on chemicals in plastics, PCBs and other chemicals that infiltrate our ecosystem on a daily basis.
Like DES (a synthetic female hormone used to stop breast milk and as a ‘morning after' pill, and readily available to woman for 40 years), DDT successfully mimics natural estrogen. Possible DES side-effects include vaginal cancer, uterine deformities, miscarriages, undescended testicles and devastated T-helper cells (which are essential to the body's immune system). Hormones and hormone receptors fit together like lock and key and activate different responses at required times, but when hormone mimics or hormone blockers (which make it impossible for natural hormones to bind to the receptors) enter the body through DDT, DES or a host of other chemicals in plastics and pesticides, the responses become incorrect.
PCBs and other persistent chemicals like dioxins and furans become magnified and concentrated as they move up the food chain-stored in fatty tissues until they reach the top predators. As PCBs move from phytoplankton to zooplankton to larger and larger fish and then to herring gulls, the chemical concentration in animal tissue can be magnified up to 25 million times! Effects on the animal kingdom range from insufficiently thick eggshells and infertile populations to birth defects and cancer. Synthetic chemicals often confuse the hormone-producing glands (e.g. the thyroid and pituitary), which means that the body doesn't know what to turn on, turn off, speed up or slow down, and this can cause defects or disease in organs like the testicles, ovaries and pancreas.
Water run through PVC tubing comes out containing Pnonylphenol, which is not only added to polystyrene and PVC as an antioxidant and to make plastics more stable, but is also found in contraceptive creams like nonoxynol-9. Also, polycarbonates and plastic linings of food tins contain P-nonylphenol and bisphenol-A, which leach in to water and food from packaging and act as hormone blockers. Even reusable plastic bottles can seriously damage our health.For such a scientifically daunting subject, the authors of Our Stolen Future have produced a very readable and understandable book that even people without a solid scientific background can appreciate.
August 21, 2013
The spiritual descendant of Rachel Carson's classic, Silent Spring. While the villains of Carson's book have mostly been banned (in the U.S. anyway), the underlying dynamic that most concerned Carson continues: namely, that technological development outpaces our scientific understanding of technology's effects on human health and the environment. That we are, in effect, all guinea pigs in a great un-supervised experiment.
Our Stolen Future focuses on chemicals that are not acutely toxic nor necessarily carcinogenic. Rather they are endocrine disruptors that can either mimic or block the body's hormones. As the authors point out in case study after case study, the consequences of these chemicals are both potentially enormous and remarkably hard to study. For starters, endocrine disruptors upset the traditional toxicological maxim that the "dose makes the poison." For many of these chemicals it matters more when the dose is administered rather than how much it is. A minuscule dose of a certain substance delivered at just the right moment in the biological development process can cause remarkably large problems for the organism. And the evidence indicates that our environment is literally flooded with these chemicals, with consequences that we are only perceiving dimly.
The book is another fine example of good science writing, with clear and cogent chapters addressing the tragedy of the "DES daughters" or tracing the remarkable path of a PCB molecule as it bioaccumulates its way up the food chain. There's even a hermaphroditic beluga whale. The scientific field profiled here is one that is very much in its infancy -- pre-paradigmatic, as Kuhn would say -- which makes much of what is discussed somewhat speculative. The scientific picture has become somewhat clearer in the years since publication, although a coherent policy response remains years away.
Our Stolen Future focuses on chemicals that are not acutely toxic nor necessarily carcinogenic. Rather they are endocrine disruptors that can either mimic or block the body's hormones. As the authors point out in case study after case study, the consequences of these chemicals are both potentially enormous and remarkably hard to study. For starters, endocrine disruptors upset the traditional toxicological maxim that the "dose makes the poison." For many of these chemicals it matters more when the dose is administered rather than how much it is. A minuscule dose of a certain substance delivered at just the right moment in the biological development process can cause remarkably large problems for the organism. And the evidence indicates that our environment is literally flooded with these chemicals, with consequences that we are only perceiving dimly.
The book is another fine example of good science writing, with clear and cogent chapters addressing the tragedy of the "DES daughters" or tracing the remarkable path of a PCB molecule as it bioaccumulates its way up the food chain. There's even a hermaphroditic beluga whale. The scientific field profiled here is one that is very much in its infancy -- pre-paradigmatic, as Kuhn would say -- which makes much of what is discussed somewhat speculative. The scientific picture has become somewhat clearer in the years since publication, although a coherent policy response remains years away.
December 4, 2010
This book is scary! Science explains where cancer, autoimmune disease, allergies, Autism come from and why they are a relatively "new" problem. Certainly makes sense to me. They have a good website too!
October 19, 2021
I read this in 1997, when it was new, mostly because it touches on DES exposure. It's one of those books that permanently altered my worldview. I think it's still extremely important. My 1997 review:
Manmade chemicals mimic hormones in the body. They're everywhere, in all our bodies, and nobody knows all the effects, but they appear to cause sterility and other reproductive problems. The book has lots of examples including wild animals, lab animal studies, and documented effects on humans. Excellent book, except in offering solutions. What suggestions are offered seem very unlikely to me as long as anyone can make a profit selling these chemicals.
Manmade chemicals mimic hormones in the body. They're everywhere, in all our bodies, and nobody knows all the effects, but they appear to cause sterility and other reproductive problems. The book has lots of examples including wild animals, lab animal studies, and documented effects on humans. Excellent book, except in offering solutions. What suggestions are offered seem very unlikely to me as long as anyone can make a profit selling these chemicals.
January 5, 2015
I read this book in 2010. Our Stolen Future describes how endocrine disruptors can affect unborn children. Turns out we better rethink our lives, from the picture-perfect lawns to flea collars for our pets, know where our water comes from, choose food intelligently, avoid unnecessary exposure. And wash hands even more frequently.
Sometimes I wonder what it was like to be Theo Colborn, whose scientific detective work and vision is described so well in Our Stolen Future. How distressing to have one’s research ignored, although her book is practically a sequel to Silent Spring, as Al Gore points out in the foreword.
I am not a science person. I got a D in physics/chemistry. And, yet, Our Stolen Future contains science that it is urgent for us all to grasp and share.
As I understand it, prenatal exposure to endocrine disruptive chemicals, in the environment of the mother, at certain periods of prenatal development, can create the following problems once this child grows up:
Low sperm counts
Reproductive problems ranging from testicular cancer to endometriosis
Masculinizing females and feminizing males
Increase in hormone-responsive cancers (breast, prostate, uterine)
Enlarged prostate
Smaller penis size ...
You get the idea.
What's more, Dr. Colborn warns of transgenerational exposure, in other words, a problem may not show up until the next generation. And, this book is being ignored. It is so important to recognize the gravity of the threat toxic chemicals pose to humanity and support the bill now before Congress. Tomorrow, we will return to the beach and Wellfleet, but in the meantime, please read through two short excerpts and consider borrowing Our Stolen Future from your local library:
"If this book contains a single prescriptive message, it is this: we must move beyond the cancer paradigm ... The assumptions about toxicity and disease that have framed our thinking for the past three decades are inappropriate and act as obstacles to understanding a different kind of damage. Hormone-disrupting chemicals are not classical poisons or typical carcinogens. They play by different rules."
"At levels typically found in the environment, hormone-disrupting chemicals do not kill cells nor do they attack DNA. Their target is hormones, the chemical messengers that move about constantly within the body's communications network. Hormonally active synthetic chemicals are thugs on the biological information highway that sabotage vital communication. They mug the messengers or impersonate them. They jam signals. They scramble messages. They sow disinformation. They wreak all manner of havoc. Because hormone messages orchestrate many critical aspects of development, from sexual differentiation to brain organization, hormone-disrupting chemicals pose a particular hazard before birth and early in life ... Relatively low levels of contaminants that have no observable impact on adults can have devastating impacts on the unborn. The process that unfolds in the womb and creates a normal, healthy baby depends on getting the right hormone message to the fetus at the right time. The key concept in thinking about this kind of toxic assault is chemical messages. Not poisons, not carcinogens, but chemical messages."
I have been giving this book away to guests at my B&B when they seem interested in the subject.
Sometimes I wonder what it was like to be Theo Colborn, whose scientific detective work and vision is described so well in Our Stolen Future. How distressing to have one’s research ignored, although her book is practically a sequel to Silent Spring, as Al Gore points out in the foreword.
I am not a science person. I got a D in physics/chemistry. And, yet, Our Stolen Future contains science that it is urgent for us all to grasp and share.
As I understand it, prenatal exposure to endocrine disruptive chemicals, in the environment of the mother, at certain periods of prenatal development, can create the following problems once this child grows up:
Low sperm counts
Reproductive problems ranging from testicular cancer to endometriosis
Masculinizing females and feminizing males
Increase in hormone-responsive cancers (breast, prostate, uterine)
Enlarged prostate
Smaller penis size ...
You get the idea.
What's more, Dr. Colborn warns of transgenerational exposure, in other words, a problem may not show up until the next generation. And, this book is being ignored. It is so important to recognize the gravity of the threat toxic chemicals pose to humanity and support the bill now before Congress. Tomorrow, we will return to the beach and Wellfleet, but in the meantime, please read through two short excerpts and consider borrowing Our Stolen Future from your local library:
"If this book contains a single prescriptive message, it is this: we must move beyond the cancer paradigm ... The assumptions about toxicity and disease that have framed our thinking for the past three decades are inappropriate and act as obstacles to understanding a different kind of damage. Hormone-disrupting chemicals are not classical poisons or typical carcinogens. They play by different rules."
"At levels typically found in the environment, hormone-disrupting chemicals do not kill cells nor do they attack DNA. Their target is hormones, the chemical messengers that move about constantly within the body's communications network. Hormonally active synthetic chemicals are thugs on the biological information highway that sabotage vital communication. They mug the messengers or impersonate them. They jam signals. They scramble messages. They sow disinformation. They wreak all manner of havoc. Because hormone messages orchestrate many critical aspects of development, from sexual differentiation to brain organization, hormone-disrupting chemicals pose a particular hazard before birth and early in life ... Relatively low levels of contaminants that have no observable impact on adults can have devastating impacts on the unborn. The process that unfolds in the womb and creates a normal, healthy baby depends on getting the right hormone message to the fetus at the right time. The key concept in thinking about this kind of toxic assault is chemical messages. Not poisons, not carcinogens, but chemical messages."
I have been giving this book away to guests at my B&B when they seem interested in the subject.
January 1, 2010
Just this year read this deeply worrisome 1995 account of the evidence that synthetic hormones are damaging the environment and hence human health. The chemicals are in some pharmaceuticals but our primary exposure to them is through chemicals added to plastic, in everything from toys and baby bottles to shower curtains, and consumer products like shampoo and detergent.
The book essentially jumpstarted concern about these synthetics, which evidence suggests can cause birth defects in wild animals and in people, and possibly make people more susceptible to things like cancer. (It's one possible explanation for the otherwise huge but unexplained rise in testicular and breast cancer in people.)
This is a well-written, thoroughly researched book, co-written by Colborn (herself a researcher) and it's both an explicit and a worthy follow-up to Silent Spring (in which Rachel Carson actually briefly mentions the risks these compounds pose).
Research into the concerns that Colborn brought into popular consciousness has continued and has only gotten scarier -- witness recent efforts to ban chemicals like Bisphenol A (used to line metal cans).
The book essentially jumpstarted concern about these synthetics, which evidence suggests can cause birth defects in wild animals and in people, and possibly make people more susceptible to things like cancer. (It's one possible explanation for the otherwise huge but unexplained rise in testicular and breast cancer in people.)
This is a well-written, thoroughly researched book, co-written by Colborn (herself a researcher) and it's both an explicit and a worthy follow-up to Silent Spring (in which Rachel Carson actually briefly mentions the risks these compounds pose).
Research into the concerns that Colborn brought into popular consciousness has continued and has only gotten scarier -- witness recent efforts to ban chemicals like Bisphenol A (used to line metal cans).
April 10, 2015
I first heard about this book in the film Bag It, which pulls some information from this book along with commentary from the author. I was very intrigued by the information and decided to read the book to get more information. I thought a lot of the examples of hormone disruption in animals were extremely interesting (and frightening), and could really teach us as humans what can happen to our own species if we are not careful.
For example, I found the story about soy plants and sheep to be extremely interesting, and how soy, over time, biologically evolved to produce larger and larger amounts of estrogen, which eventually caused the sheep in that particular area (who consumed the soy plants to survive) to slowly die out. Females receiving too much of the estrogen developed fertility issues, while the males became disinterested in the females. I liked that there were a lot of in-depth examples and scientific research explained in the book, in a way that anyone could understand. Definitely worth the read.
For example, I found the story about soy plants and sheep to be extremely interesting, and how soy, over time, biologically evolved to produce larger and larger amounts of estrogen, which eventually caused the sheep in that particular area (who consumed the soy plants to survive) to slowly die out. Females receiving too much of the estrogen developed fertility issues, while the males became disinterested in the females. I liked that there were a lot of in-depth examples and scientific research explained in the book, in a way that anyone could understand. Definitely worth the read.
March 3, 2018
I read at the suggestion of my boss at NIEHS when I had a student position helping in a lab studying endocrine disruptors. Still such a fascinating topic- environmental estrogen and the cancer and dysfunction it causes in successive generations. It could be considered in the vein of Silent Spring or as a part two maybe. If you're interested in biology, the environment or have followed the controversy about BPA or other compounds in plastics, you should give this a read.
March 2, 2022
Depressing, but a very fascinating read. My brain is now fully of frustrating and morbid facts
August 27, 2022
3/5 (more like 3.5)
I read this book in 2022. It was suggested as companion reading for an ecotoxicology class I took. A lot has changed since this book was published. And some things have barely changed at all.
Despite my interest in ecotoxicology, I found myself struggling to make progress in this book. At times I found it quite repetitive, at other times quite jargony, and other times quite vague. To me, it lacked a cohesive tone. It could have also benefitted from more figures and images. Personally, I would rather just read the case studies and primary literature mentioned. That being said, this is a classic work in the realm of environmental science/sustainability and I'm glad I read it.
I read this book in 2022. It was suggested as companion reading for an ecotoxicology class I took. A lot has changed since this book was published. And some things have barely changed at all.
Despite my interest in ecotoxicology, I found myself struggling to make progress in this book. At times I found it quite repetitive, at other times quite jargony, and other times quite vague. To me, it lacked a cohesive tone. It could have also benefitted from more figures and images. Personally, I would rather just read the case studies and primary literature mentioned. That being said, this is a classic work in the realm of environmental science/sustainability and I'm glad I read it.
January 29, 2019
Quite a jarring read, there were a number of passages that made me wince or even caused me to physically squirm in my chair.
The authors consider the book to be the spiritual successor to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring -- and there are several references to Silent Spring in Our Stolen Future --and after reading this book it's easy to accept it as such.
The book goes into great -- often rather graphic -- detail about how synthetic chemicals can mimic hormones and play havoc with our bodies, especially our reproductive systems and the bodies of unborn children during sensitive stages in their development and chronicles how companies and governments had been warned by scientists about strange things that happened to the sexual development of mice who were exposed to these chemicals but failed to heed or even dismissed the warnings.
While the book is now 22-years-old, and can drone on and be somewhat repetitive at times it's definitely worth reading for anyone interested in biology, chemistry, or the environment.
The authors consider the book to be the spiritual successor to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring -- and there are several references to Silent Spring in Our Stolen Future --and after reading this book it's easy to accept it as such.
The book goes into great -- often rather graphic -- detail about how synthetic chemicals can mimic hormones and play havoc with our bodies, especially our reproductive systems and the bodies of unborn children during sensitive stages in their development and chronicles how companies and governments had been warned by scientists about strange things that happened to the sexual development of mice who were exposed to these chemicals but failed to heed or even dismissed the warnings.
While the book is now 22-years-old, and can drone on and be somewhat repetitive at times it's definitely worth reading for anyone interested in biology, chemistry, or the environment.
May 27, 2022
I decided to read this book for a class I was taking, as one of the authors came to speak at my university. While a bit of the information is dated (it was written in the 90s after all), it was an okay read overall. The information it conveys is important to bear in mind, especially when it comes to chemical regulation and environmental conservation.
I will preface that I skimmed the last several pages. Throughout the book, the authors had a tendency to repeat themselves, stating the same information in different ways. I know it's most likely designed this way to hammer in the point to a reader who doesn't work in the field, but the repetition became distracting for me.
It's still a solid read for those interested in the topic.
I will preface that I skimmed the last several pages. Throughout the book, the authors had a tendency to repeat themselves, stating the same information in different ways. I know it's most likely designed this way to hammer in the point to a reader who doesn't work in the field, but the repetition became distracting for me.
It's still a solid read for those interested in the topic.
October 5, 2021
Enlightening information on the effects of the proliferation of coolants, pesticides, and plastics. Chockful of studies and experiments, the book makes a strong case for the need to evaluate our use of them, because they act as hormone disruptors which pose long-term health hazards. Some hazards can only be seen long after exposure in utero, such as genital mutations, altered thyroid and lower capacity in coping with stress, low sperm count in males, et al.
November 14, 2017
Just as Silent Spring brought about awareness and prompted actions to protect human life, so should the information presented in this book. We should be reexamining the hormone disrupting, endocrine disrupting chemicals that are insidiously pervading our environment and are drastically affecting us all.
January 11, 2019
An exhausting but interesting read. A book that's been in collection for some time but I just didn't get to until now. It covers a wide variety of issues regarding hormone disrupting chemicals. It's defiantly disturbing to think of all the damage being done both to the environment and human society without us being completely aware of it.
May 26, 2019
A comprehensive introduction to the hazards and harm chemicals are wreaking on our lives in a myriad of ways. The book explains how we got here, why it's so hard to change, and the sprawling, often unrecognized effects chemicals have - from physical conditions to social degradation - and what we can do about it.
May 31, 2021
Excellent and disturbing—an important foundation for more recent research, and an argument to continue funding this sort of research and placing more burden of proof on the LT safely of chemicals onto companies producing the chemicals.
January 23, 2023
2.5 super informative and slightly scary to an expecting mother! it did get repetitive though be beware, she sort of beats the point to a pulp. you can get most of the information that you will need from the first 4 chapters.
March 8, 2018
Best book ever read so far,a very important book , it addresses understanding a main threat to humans where most people are not aware of!
January 17, 2021
Such a fascinating and terrifying read! I truly think everybody should read this book. It is difficult to digest a lot of it at once because it is so disturbing to realize, but very eye-opening.
February 7, 2023
little repetitive but good moments of humor
Read
February 12, 2023I mean I guess the science is sound but why does every book about this subject comes off like this: https://youtu.be/dvf6gz58xnI
Want to read
April 8, 2023يحكي عن عمل البلاستيك داخل جسم الانسان
May 26, 2023
We are all just rats in a cage. A must read for every human on the planet.
December 2, 2024
This book was so good & everyone should read it because how the hell is all of this happening to our bodies !!!
December 2, 2024
very interesting, intense, and scary. i feel so knowledgeable about hormonal issues and have a huge hate for big pharma. would recommend to literally anyone
Read
January 22, 2025Required for my biology class… not horrible but kind of boring
February 23, 2025
Really life-changing, and I don’t use that term lightly. You’ll never see the world the same way. I am both grateful to have read this and also just a little bit wish I never had.
July 30, 2007
This book tries to be like "Silent Spring" by pointing scientific fingers at the post World War II chemicals now firmly implanted into our air, water and soil.
With many case studies about how we've poisoned ourselves, I found it scary that the sited scientists found direct cause for cancer...but couldn't get their hands on the exact petro-chemical because the plastic company had a secret patent. And so, the plastic remains.
The book documents the declining rate of our fertility as well as many other animals. Fertilizers and soy acting as estrogen in the blood is changing our make up.
Again, a must read as a respnsible citizen of the planet. Add that to "The Omnivore's Dilemma," "Story of B" and "Silent Spring"
I hope I can have kids one day...and that they can have kids...that we haven't screwed ourselves into natural procreation without the use of IVF.
With many case studies about how we've poisoned ourselves, I found it scary that the sited scientists found direct cause for cancer...but couldn't get their hands on the exact petro-chemical because the plastic company had a secret patent. And so, the plastic remains.
The book documents the declining rate of our fertility as well as many other animals. Fertilizers and soy acting as estrogen in the blood is changing our make up.
Again, a must read as a respnsible citizen of the planet. Add that to "The Omnivore's Dilemma," "Story of B" and "Silent Spring"
I hope I can have kids one day...and that they can have kids...that we haven't screwed ourselves into natural procreation without the use of IVF.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews