Toxic Deception: How the Chemical Industry Manipulates Science, Bends the Law, and Endangers Your Health

by Dan Fagin, Marianne Lavelle, Center for Public Integrity

Dan Fagin and Marianne Lavelle, two prize-winning investigative reporters who specialize in environmental writing, and the Center for Public Integrity have dug deep into the secretive world of the chemical giants and unearthed enough disturbing questions to shake America's faith in many household products and in much of the food we consume. Without polemic, the authors show precisely how manufacturers have managed to keep harmful products on the market even when safer, cheaper alternatives are available.
Drawing on the resources of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit group well known for its exposes of political influence in Washington, the authors offer vivid examples of how the chemical industry flexes its muscle in order to outmaneuver government watchdogs.
Toxic Deception also details the stories of courageous families fighting the system, like the Grahams, who, after a series of pesticide sprayings, saw their farm become a chamber of environmental horrors where dead birds littered the fields, the family cow gave bloody milk, the pond foamed, and family members suffered an array of serious illnesses.
Not just another jeremiad exposing the injustices and hazards of the chemical industry, Toxic Deception explains how consumers can reduce their own risk and rescue a flawed system of health and safety laws.

Genres: Science, Politics, Nonfiction, Environment

294 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1997

About the author

A science journalism professor at New York University, Dan Fagin is a nationally prominent journalist on environmental health topics. His new book, Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation, was awarded the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. It has been described as “a new classic of science reporting” (The New York Times), “a gripping environmental thriller” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), “a crisp, hard-nosed probe into corporate arrogance and the power of public resistance” (Publishers Weekly), “required environmental reading” (The Philadelphia Inquirer), and "an absorbing and thoughtful navigation of our era of synthetic chemicals" (USA Today).

Reviews

[Jessica Zu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very revealing book. Monsanto again is putting profit in front of public health, Monsanto as a corporation has absolutely NO MORAL standard! Every should read this book!

[Debbie Brown]

I bought this book because it wasn't at the library. I ended up just skimming it. It was way too technical and really boring to read.