12 Stars!
Price: US$ 10.50, Available worldwide on Amazon.com
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ISBN: 0452274141

Description

Ingram
Identifies the various ways in which chemical pollutants in the environment are disrupting human reproductive patterns and causing such problems as birth defects, sexual abnormalities, and reproductive failure.


Undermining Survival, August 19, 2004
Reviewer: Everwinter - See all my reviews

This book is a real wake-up, for all, but especially to inhabitants of far off non-industrialized lands such as the polar arctic where villagers find themselves contaminated by chemicals in pesticides they had never even heard of, or what they are used for. There very food and way of life undermining the survival of their offspring. Scary book when you consider the future of man. A book that has given me some insight to why my grandmother went through life perfectly healthy while her twin daughters developed alopecia and in 1 case wegeners disease, both of which are immune disorders, I myself now have alopecia given to me by my mother. As doctors tell us they know nothing of why it occurs, this book has brought up a possible answer, perhaps unknowingly through generations chemicals in pesticides and plastics, in water and in the air, had wreaked havoc on our hormones. A must read to people ignorant to the enviroment today.



Stop, I Want Off Now, June 8, 2002
Reviewer: "angry_bear" (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews


The Industrial Revolution ushered in a lot of nice toys and some really convenient products - if it hasn't made our lives a little more frantic - but with this book, and now a host of other books like it, we see that the end results of our mad-dash to make and remake the world using our new scientific know-how is taking a huge toll on human health: Sperm counts are plummeting, cancer-rates are sky high, the immune system is being undermined, and hormone-mimics are quite possibly eroding our intelligence and altering our behavior. Without realizing it, we have put ourselves in grave peril, and ironically enough it is a cadre of scientists (life scientists, that is, ecologists and biologists) who are sounding the wake-up call -- ironic because it was their ilk, the chemists and scientific industrialists, who brought us pesticides, PCBs, and other toxic substances in the first place. The sad fact is, we all have these substances in our body now. There is no way to escape the new, chemicalized environment we have constructed. So in other words, there is no getting off this joy ride. That said, if you are interested in learning about natural detoxification processes, read "Hormone Deception" (Berkson, 2000). There is a lot of useful information in there, as well as a chapter about how diet and excercise can help keep these substnaces at lower levels by speeding up and aiding the body's natural detoxification processes. In a nutshell, she suggested to eating green, yellow and red veggies, taking in a lot of protein (nuts and seeds work fine for veggetarians), getting a regular dose of antioxidents, and excercising until you sweat for 30 minutes six days a week. For more detailed information, read the book. Take care of your body. Tread lightly on the planet. Good luck!



This book should be mandatory reading, April 29, 2002
Reviewer: "mbarrett66" (Hauppauge, NY United States) - See all my reviews

The book is amazing it is pleasant to read and extremely informative. All those who are concerned about the earth, your children, and existence on human beings should read this book. One of the best books I have ever read. This book should be mandatory reading in high school and college.



A Chilling Book, February 25, 2002
Reviewer: Niki Collins Queen "author" (Forsyth, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews


The book "Our Stolen Future" by Theo Colborn and John Peterson Myers, two leading environmentalists and Dianne Dumanoski, an environmental journalist, list the compelling effects of chemical contamination revealed from wildlife studies, laboratory experiments and human data. Synthetic chemicals are now linked to reproductive problems: a low sperm count (the male sperm count has plummeted by 50% since 1940 worldwide), infertility, genital and urethra abnormalities, the feminization of males, the masculization of females and hormonally triggered human diseases such as breast and prostrate cancer. Other symptoms include neurological and developmental disorders in children, the abnormal functioning of the thyroid, endocrine and immune system and mental and emotional development.
The danger we face in being exposed to industrial chemical contaminates is not simply disease and death. Something more sinister than straightforward poisoning may be occurring-the actual destruction of our human potential and our ability to reproduce.
Carcinogens are poisons that kill cells or attack DNA, other man-made chemicals target hormones. These synthetic hormones mimic the effects of natural hormones, usually the female hormone estrogen, by altering the natural synthesis of hormones or altering hormone receptor levels. The effects most often appear in the offspring, not the exposed parent. Many mothers are unknowingly passing their chemical legacy on to their babies through their womb and through their breast milk.
Eighty thousand chemicals have been registered with the Environmental Protection Agency in the last 60 years. Twenty new chemicals enter the market a week. Few are properly tested. These chemicals include pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, industrial detergents, and household cleaners. They are found everywhere in our water, air, soil, and food. They may even lurk in unexpected places such as the nonylphenols and the alkylphenols found in plastics and personal care items.
The chemicals may be low in the environment but they resist breakdown and accumulate in the body fat of humans over time. Because of food contamination the concentrations are higher in the bodies of animals up the food chain and in humans. This chronic synthetic hormone exposure is unprecedented in our evolutionary experience. However, most research money for investigating the effects of environment contamination of health goes to cancer studies. Also, because industrial chemicals have become a major sector of the global economy, any evidence linking them to serious human and ecological health problems is met with opposition.
Colburn, Myers and Dumanoski chillingly warn, "There is no clean, uncontaminated place, nor any human being who hasn't acquired a considerable load of persistent hormone-disrupting chemicals ... we are altering the fundamental systems that support life."
What can we do? We need to get political. We have to clean up the toxins in our environment and ourselves to reclaim our future.



but who's listening?, October 27, 2001
Reviewer: lois achimovich (Fremantle, Western Australia) - See all my reviews
As a medical doctor I have been very concerned at the doubling of the incidence of breast cancer since I was trained in the 60s. This book confirms one of my beliefs, namely that the majority of the increase is due to environmental factors.
But are they listening? There are now many studies on the web indicting pestcides and plastic breakdown products as causative in BC, yet the money still seems to go into screening, which is of meagre benefit in terms of greater survival, - or in genetic research, when it is known that this is relevant in about 10% of cases.
Doctors are notoriously passive when it comes to political lobbying - or are they really ignoring this information?
The only criticism I have of this book is its title - many take it for a pop. greenie text rather than the fine piece of scientific writing that it is.
I have written to a national radio show to ask them to devote a programme to the subject. There is a good US doco with Theo Colborn and the president of the One in Eight Club - worth seeing - on the issue of getting some action to stop dumping more pollutants of this kind.



What legacy are we leaving our children?, July 25, 2001
Reviewer: A reader
This is an excellent work on the insidious effects of environmental toxins and contaminates on the human system, as well as the devastation to wildlife. Highly recommended reading!


A fascinating and informative book, September 20, 2000
Reviewer: Sara Lewis (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
This book is a must read. The information is dense but perfectly understandable, and the style of the writing is engrossing. I love this book! If you like "And the Waters Turned to Blood" or "Deadly Feasts" you should also like this book. Everyone should read it though - it's a very important and timely subject.



A fascinating, if frightening read, July 10, 2000
Reviewer: JoAnne (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews
"Our Stolen Future" seeks to find the commonality in a series of seemingly unrelated abnormalities in animal populations occuring on a world-wide scale. A worthy successor to the environmental classic "Silent Spring", this is a frightening study of the effects of our highly artificial environment.