The Body Toxic How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being

We are running a collective chemical fever that we cannot break. Everyone everywhere now carries a dizzying array of chemical contaminants, the by-products of modern industry and innovation, that contribute to a host of developmental deficits and health problems in ways just now being understood. These toxic substances, unknown to our grandparents, accumulate in our fat, bones, blood, and organs as a consequence of womb-to-tomb exposure to industrial substances as common as the products that contain them. Almost everything we encounterfrom soap to soup cans, computers to clothingcontributes to a chemical load unique to each of us. Scientists studying the phenomenon refer to it as "chemical body burden," and inThe Body Toxic, the investigative journalist Nena Baker explores the many factors that have given rise to this condition.

Nena Baker is a former staff writer for The Arizona Republic and The Oregonian. Her award-winning investigation of Nike's Indonesian factories led to numerous improvements for workers.  www.thebodytoxic.com