When I was six years old, my parents took me on a car trip through the deep south. For the first time in my life I saw children starving and whole families living in tarpaper shacks. We stopped at a gas station and a little girl asked me for something to eat. My mother shook her head and led me back to the car, and my father told me the problem was too big for us to solve. He said I should try to forget about it. To console me, they stopped at a Woolworth's and I chose a small black doll. For the next several years, I dressed it, fed it, slept with it and tried to pretend I was solving the problem. But as I grew, I remained forever haunted by the image of the helpless, the hungry and the disenfranchised victims of our public policy. Being a voice for the voiceless has been at the heart of all my journalism since 1974. But it was not until four years ago, when I stumbled upon a direct connection between contaminated water and children dying of leukemia, that I started a chain of research which led me to understand that we are all being victimized by the chemical poisoning of our water, air and even our breast milk. My eighth book, Poisoned Nation, is the story of that discovery. It irrefutably links the soaring epidemics of breast cancer, lung cancer, leukemia, cluster illnesses, birth defects, asthma and autism to man-made chemicals and deadly environmental contamination. It is also the story of what people of all faiths can do to reverse the trend and care for the earth and its children.
Poisoned Nation links the soaring epidemics of cluster illness to the chemical contamination of our water, air, food and everyday products for the profit and power of a reckless few. With irrefutable evidence and moving personal stories of the sick and dying, Poisoned Nation demonstrates that the human equivalent of global warming is already upon us. It shows how the government operates in tandem with America’s most notorious polluters, and how they have deceived the public, buried evidence of spreading disease, and suppressed critical scientific data. Poisoned Nation also traces the relationships between organizations whose products cause diseases and those who profit from diagnosing and treating them, as well as their efforts to avoid research into environmental causes and possible cures. This is an urgent call for action that delineates the problem with such clarity that the truth shines through. A plea is issued to religious leaders of all faiths to work together for change, to create a movement to defeat greed and guide us toward a safer, healthier future.
