If Bush Could Read...

Wow. I have just finished reading an amazing book. As an environmentalist, feminist, and former mother I have no idea how I missed this in the last four years. Okay, so before I step up on any soap boxes, I have a question for you. Have you ever heard those warnings, that say nursing and pregnant women shouldn't eat or drink certain things due to the possible toxic exposure to the baby? You know, things like "all women of childbearing age should avoid eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish..." (January 2001 FDA guideline) And somehow those warnings don't usually seem to apply to many people, or seem sort of marginalized. So that at least half of the population can say, heck, that's not me! I don't need to worry! But wait.

Where did they come from, that lucky half? Why from their pregnant mother's wombs of course! How does every single human being enter this world? As of yet, there is no other way. The womb is it. So these warnings are not only affecting the marginalized female half of the population, it affects every future human being on earth.

So why is it that we allow our leaders to get away with things like refusing to cap mercury emission from our coal fired power plants? Even though every single species of fish on the planet now has unnatural levels of mercury bioaccumulated in their bodies. Even though there is a direct and proven link between mercury and inhibited fetal neural development.

I am riled up and on the rampage. Mercury is just the beginning. There's also dioxins, and persistent organic pollutants. And lead. And pesticides, and flame retardants. Augh. All are thought to be safe until "concentrated" in the pregnant or nursing mother. That wacky marginalized percent of the population that really doesn't count for much. Unless of course you are interested in how the next generation of inhabitants to the planet are going to turn out.

Oh, and the book is also a great read. How can you not love a book whose first sentence is: "In a faculty bathroom on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University, I am trying to pee on a stick."

So, if you have any interest in eating, parenting, ecology, science, fish, polar bears, LBI New Jersey, or just reading a well written book, I highly recommend that you check out...



Last I checked it was available used on Amazon for the shockingly paltry sum of three dollars...

PS. Special thanks to Mrs. CrazyTalent for most forcefully recommending this book, you are so right!