Fascinating and troubling look at environmental links to autism
review by yuba_river
I found this book to be a compelling and thoughtful look at the potential links between environmental toxicity and the alarming rise in the rates of autism. Without hysteria or straying into speculation, Belli provides a wide range of evidence for "our chemical world" as she puts it as a root cause (if not the only cause) of autism. The most convincing examples explore "autism clusters" where children (or their pregnant mothers) were exposed to exceedingly high levels of pollutants. I recently read "Raising Elijah" by Sandra Steingraber, and found them to be a well-matched pair. Both argue for the application of the precautionary principle, which is the concept that we should protect our children from potential harm until a product or chemical has been proven safe, rather than exposing our children to that product until it has been proven dangerous. Both also remind us that try as we might to protect our own families from harm, environmental toxicity is not something that can be addressed on an individual basis. Every single one of us, however we eat and wherever we live carries a body burden of toxic chemicals. In order to change this, we must fight for systemic change. That's a message well worth considering.
Ratings
review by yuba_river
I found this book to be a compelling and thoughtful look at the potential links between environmental toxicity and the alarming rise in the rates of autism. Without hysteria or straying into speculation, Belli provides a wide range of evidence for "our chemical world" as she puts it as a root cause (if not the only cause) of autism. The most convincing examples explore "autism clusters" where children (or their pregnant mothers) were exposed to exceedingly high levels of pollutants. I recently read "Raising Elijah" by Sandra Steingraber, and found them to be a well-matched pair. Both argue for the application of the precautionary principle, which is the concept that we should protect our children from potential harm until a product or chemical has been proven safe, rather than exposing our children to that product until it has been proven dangerous. Both also remind us that try as we might to protect our own families from harm, environmental toxicity is not something that can be addressed on an individual basis. Every single one of us, however we eat and wherever we live carries a body burden of toxic chemicals. In order to change this, we must fight for systemic change. That's a message well worth considering.
Ratings
Overall | 4 |