Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Children
Philip Shabecoff and Alice Shabecoff
New York:Random House, 2008.
344 pp. ISBN: 978-1-4000-6430-4, $26.00

An increasingly vast body of evidence shows that some chronic conditions such as birth defects, cancers, and developmental disorders among children are linked to the poisons that are dumped into the food children eat, the water they drink, and the air they breathe. Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of many chemicals, but industrial chemicals are rarely tested for health and safety before sale. Although many birth defects, cancers, and developmental disorders are preventable, neither government nor industry is taking the steps needed to prevent them. In their new book, Philip and Alice Shabecoff argue convincingly that this is a scandal and a crime.

image: Arnold Greenwell/EHP

The scope of the problem is huge. One indicator is that filing cabinets at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments contain hundreds of files with details of cluster investigations. Complaints to these agencies called in by ordinary citizens prompted many of these investigations. In some cases, parents believed that more than the usual number of children in their community had a certain birth defect or cancer and were concerned that it might be caused by releases of chemicals from local manufacturers. Frequently no one investigated their complaints at all; when a complaint was investigated, the work was often minimal and the science inconclusive. The reports rarely received public attention.

This solemn and hard-hitting exposé, written for the layperson, explains that the limits of these cluster investigations and other research efforts are no accident. The authors detail the ways in which the petrochemical industry, now the largest manufacturing sector in the United States, influences government science and the process of decision making. The authors contend that because of increasing financial ties between academic researchers and industry, so-called independent scientists and their findings also can be tainted.

The Shabecoffs put a human face to each cluster, introducing us to Peyton, one of the 19 children born with a cleft lip and palate in during a 2-year period in the late 1990s in Dickson, Tennessee, population 13,000. Many of the Dickson parents believed that the birth defects occurred because the mothers drank groundwater contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE). Some of the townspeople liked the taste of the water (one woman was considering bottling it to sell)—until they learned that the sweet taste (and the cluster of defects) were likely linked to maternal exposures to TCE, dumped there by a company that manufactured automobile parts.

The authors contend that Peyton and the other 18 children in Dickson, and many other children with certain chronic disorders, are victims of an insidious crime. Poisoned Profits chronicles the indictment, describes the victims, outlines the evidence, and explores the scene of the crime, including forensics, perpetrators, co-conspirators, witnesses for the defense, and the posse, a group of ordinary people who take justice into their own hands. The parents of affected children, the Shabecoffs, explain, find themselves thrown into an unruly marketplace of information and ideas where they struggle to evaluate evidence they often don't know how to judge. This the authors distinguish from the world of orthodox science and medicine. The public and private institutions charged with the welfare of children fail to protect them and sometimes do not even listen to the parents'complaints. It is up to courageous doctors, scientists, parents, advocates, and ordinary citizens to embark on a mission to obtain justice for the children. But should the public have to do this on its own? And will enough people do so?

The jury is still out on whether the public will demand effective changes in environmental policy and corporate practices that permit the increasing level of toxicity in our society. After reading this well-documented and accessible analysis, which exposes the American institutions' willingness to ignore science and public health in favor of protecting corporations' rising profit rates, many will be roused to action.

Ruth A. Etzel

Ruth A. Etzel is with the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. She is the editor of Pediatric Environmental Health, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

---

New Books

• Crop Biosecurity: Assuring our Global Food Supply
  M.L. Gullino, J. Fletcher, A. Gamliel,
  J.P. Stack, eds.
  New York:Springer, 2008. 148 pp.
  ISBN: 978-1-4020-8477-5, $74.95
• Economics and Management of Climate Change: Risks, Mitigation and Adaptation
  Bernd Hansjürgens, Ralf Antes, eds.
  New York:Springer, 2008. 310 pp.
  ISBN: 978-0-387-77352-0, $119
• Encyclopedia of Ecology. 5 vols.
  S.E. Jorgensen, Brian Faith, eds.
  St. Louis, MO:Elsevier, 2008. 3,120 pp.
  ISBN: 978-0-444-52033-3, $1,995
• Environmental Change and Human Security: Recognizing and Acting on Hazard Impacts
  P.H. Liotta, David A. Mouat, William G. Kepner, Judith M. Lancaster, eds.
  New York:Springer, 2008. 480 pp.
  ISBN: 978-1-4020-8550-5, $99.95
• Environmental Futures: The Practice of Environmental Scenario Analysis
  J. Alcamo, ed.
  St. Louis, MO:Elsevier, 2008. 212 pp.
  ISBN: 978-0-444-53293-0, $170
• Epidemiologic Studies of Veterans Exposed to Depleted Uranium: Feasbility and Design Issues
  Committee on Gulf War and Health: Updated Literature Review of Depleted Uranium, Institute of Medicine
  Washington, DC:National Academies Press, 2008. 60 pp.
  ISBN: 978-0-309-1206-7, $21
• Estimating Mortality Risk Reduction and Economic Benefits from Controlling Ozone Air Pollution
  Committee on Estimating Mortality Risk Reduction Benefits from Decreasing Tropospheric Ozone Exposure, National Research Council
  Washington, DC:National Academies Press, 2008. 229 pp.
  ISBN: 978-0-309-11994-8, $49
• Falling for Science: Objects in Mind
  Sherry Turkle, ed.
  Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 2008. 232 pp.
  ISBN: 978-0-262-20172-8, $24.95
• Francis Crick: A Biography
  Robert Olby
  Woodbury, NY:Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2009. 450 pp.
  ISBN: 978-0-8796-9798-3, $39
• Inequalities in Young People's Health: Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children
  Currie, C., Gabhainn, S.N., Godeau, E., Roberts, C., Smith, R., et al.
  Geneva:WHO Press, 2008. 220 pp.
  ISBN: 978-9-2890-7195-6, $40
• Insatiable Curiosity: Innovation in a Fragile Future
  Helga Nowotny
  Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 2008. 216 pp.
  ISBN: 978-0-262-14103-1, $30
• Land Change Science in the Tropics: Changing Agricultural Landscapes
  Andrew Millington, Wendy Jepson, eds..
  New York:Springer, 2008. 274 pp.
  ISBN: 978-0-387-78863-0, $109
• Neither Gods Nor Beasts: How Science Is Changing Who We Think We Are
  Elof A. Carlson
  Woodbury, NY:Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2008. 180 pp.
  ISBN: 978-0-8796-9786-0, $29.00
• Public Participation in Environmental Assessment and Decision Making
  Thomas Dietz, Paul C. Stern, eds.
  Washington, DC:National Academies Press, 2008. 360 pp.
  ISBN: 978-0-309-12543-7, $43
• Statistics for Terrified Biologists
  Helmut van Emden
  Hoboken, NJ:John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2008. 360 pp.
  ISBN: 978-1-4051-4956-3, $39.95
• Theory and Mathematical Methods in Bioinformatics
  Shiyi Shen, Jack A. Tuszynski
  New York:Springer, 2008. 445 pp.
  ISBN: 978-3-540-74890-8, $179.95
• The Energy Trail—Where It Is Leading
  George H. Croy
  Hackensack, NJ:World Scientific Publishing Co., Inc., 2008. 150 pp.
  ISBN: 978-981-281-857-7, $24
• The Entropy Crisis
  Guy Deutscher
  Hackensack, NJ:World Scientific Publishing Co., Inc., 2008. 130 pp.
  ISBN: 978-981-277-968-7, $48
• The New Public Health, 2nd ed.
  Theodore H. Tulchinsky, Elena A. Varavikova
  St. Louis, MO:Elsevier, 2008. 696 pp.
  ISBN: 978-0-12-370890-8, $79.95
• The Socio-Economic Causes and Consequences of Desertification in Central Asia
  Roy Behnke, ed.
  New York:Springer, 2008. 254 pp.
  ISBN: 978-1-4020-8543-7, $65.49