Release Date: 01 March, 1997
Paperback
|
Rating 4.5
A clear and compelling summary of an important subject.'Our Stolen Future' is a great introduction to one of the most important scientific discoveries in our time. Having recently completed a thesis project at university on Endocrine Disruptors, I have reviewed hundreds of papers on the subject. This book is a good clear overview of the scientific literature on EDs. The authors are experts - Theo Colborn is largely responsible for creating the field by bringing together diverse researchers so they could see the big picture of their work. Many of the principle investigators are interviewed and quoted at length on the way chemicals participate in and interfere with delicate hormonal systems in animals (including humans). The major accomplishment of the book is to make an easy-to-follow story out of complex research. Many resources are available to help you assess the reliability of this story, and the best thing to do if you have any doubts is read review articles in scientific journals (which are easier to understand than technical papers). The Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) have a guidebook for health-care professionals on Endocrine Disruptors, and the US EPA has many reports on the matter. Beware of people or websites who try to 'debunk' this book (or the science behind it) by simply declaring it false, flawed or disproven. There is far too much supporting research for so simple a refutation. 'Our Stolen Future' is well written and a compelling read.An Absolute Must ReadAs a biology major in college, I was fortunate enough to take a class on mammalian reproduction with Dr. Fred vom Saal at the University of Missouri, one of the main researchers in this book. Although this book is nearly 10 years, it is still incredibly telling of the insidious nature of various industries who clearly do not have your safety in mind. The fact that a representive from Dow Chemical actually came down to bribe Dr. vom Saal to not publish his research right away is pretty telling of their goals. The plastics industry makes billions of dollars per year on polycarbonate plastics and its base unit bisphenol A used to make baby bottles, the lining of many aluminum cans, and the popular Nalgene water bottles. When it comes to you and your future children, shouldn't the burden of proof rest on the plastics industry? If you check out www.bisphenol-a.org, which of course lauds the safety and wonders of polycarbonate plastic, you might notice that those and other sites are maintained by the American Plastics Council, among others, which love to site their own studies that say that bisphenol A is just great. Gee, do you think they want bad press about a chemical that has been shown to cause a myriad of reproductive and other physiological problems? Does this sound like the tobacco industry to anyone else? I am fortunate enough now, several years later, to now be a graduate student with Dr. vom Saal as my advisor. After my PhD, I also plan on going to law school for environmental law to finally bring some truth of this to light. As said previously, this should be a required reading of all college students who will have to make some choices about the future of our species.Undermining SurvivalThis 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. |
|
