David R. Boyd - Dodging the Toxic Bullet: How to Protect Yourself from Everyday Environmental Health Hazards

.. Praise for ..

DODGING THE TOXIC BULLET

An excellent overview for everyone who must know more about the future of health and the planet.

DR. RICHARD J. JACKSON, MD, UCLA School of Public Health

A well-written, well-researched guide on how to protect oneself and ones family from a range of environmental health hazards.

DR. ERIC CHIVIAN, MD, Director, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School

Amidst the complex stew of facts, beliefs, and rumors about human health and the environment comes David Boyds clear guidance regarding environmental causes of disease. It is a fascinating, dramatic, and necessary book.

DR. KARL-HENRIK ROBRT, MD, oncologist and founder of The Natural Step

Boyd brilliantly exposes the womb-to-tomb risks in everything from bad air to bad diets but... gives us the practical steps to save our planet and ourselves!

TERRY TAMMINEN, author of Lives per Gallon: The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction

For pregnant and breastfeeding women or any parent of young children, this is an essential resource.

DR. ELIN RAYMOND, MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Toronto

A wonderful guide to making our food, air, and water safer. Boyd offers excellent advice while showing us something more important still: how to become advocates for planetary survival.

GIDEON FORMAN, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment

A highly sensible guide with easy, available tips and ideas. I cant wait to institute these ideas in my household!

DR. KEVIN CHAN, MD, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto

A delightfully practical guide on how individuals in a polluted world can take charge of their health.

DR. COLIN L. SOSKOLNE, School of Public Health, University of Alberta

Boyd provides plenty of practical pointers that succeed in passionately promoting hope in our ability to protect ourselves, our families, and our planet.

DR. LYNN MARSHALL, MD, Past President of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine

Essential reading for any parent or concerned citizen. Boyds writing is accessible, intelligent, informative, and balanced.

DR. ALAN ABELSOHN, MD, University of Toronto

This is precisely the sort of book people need to deal with our increasingly toxic society.

DR. DANIEL RAINHAM, Chair in Sustainability and Environmental Health, Dalhousie University, Canada

Knowledge is power, and this book is packed! It is an empowering book for healthier people, happier households, and a healthier world.

DR. MEG SEARS, Environmental Health researcher, Childrens Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute

A beautifully written yet practical guide that everyone should read. Packed with wisdom and knowledge, if we all followed these recommendations our health and the health of our planet would improve remarkably.

DR. ELAINE MACDONALD, Senior Scientist, Ecojustice

As a medical doctor involved in caring for people suffering from various health conditions related to adverse environmental exposures, I am grateful for this important work.

DR. STEPHEN GENUIS, MD, Clinical Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alberta

DODGING
THE TOXIC
BULLET

HOW TO PROTECT
YOURSELF FROM EVERYDAY
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH HAZARDS

DAVID R. BOYD

Foreword by DAVID SUZUKI

Copyright 2010 by David R. Boyd

10 11 12 13 14 5 4 3 2 1
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a license from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For a copyright license, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800 -893-5777.

Greystone Books
An imprint of D&M Publishers Inc.
2323 Quebec Street, Suite 201
Vancouver BC Canada V5T 4S7
www.greystonebooks.com

The David Suzuki Foundation
219 2211 West 4th Avenue
Vancouver, BC Canada V6K 4S2

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Boyd, David R. (David Richard), 1964
Dodging the toxic bullet: how to protect yourself from everyday
environmental health hazards / David R. Boyd.

Co-published by the David Suzuki Foundation.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-55365-454-4

1. Environmental toxicologyPopular works. 2. Environmental healthPopular works.
I. David Suzuki Foundation II. Title.
R A565.B69 2010 615.902 C2009 - 906137- 6

Editing by Barbara Tomlin
Text design by Naomi MacDougall
Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens
Printed on acid-free paper that is forest friendly
(100% post-consumer recycled paper) and has been processed chlorine free
Distributed in the U.S. by Publishers Group West

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, the Province of British Columbia through the Book Publishing Tax Credit, and the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities.

This book is dedicated to my daughter, Meredith,
my niece, Sonje, my nephew, Seamus,
and all of the worlds children.
Its also dedicated to the memory of Sam.
Healthy kids need a healthy planet.

CONTENTS

L IKE ALMOST EVERYONE, Ive experienced the pain of losing loved ones to unexpected illnesses. My mother, an amazing woman who single-handedly raised two boys, was killed by breast cancer when she was barely sixty. Cancer killed my Uncle Bill and my Aunt Anne, a pair of kind and hardworking farmers, well before their lives should have ended. My cousin Mary gave birth to Sam, a boy who suffered from lissencephaly, a rare affliction in which the brain lacks its regular deep folds. Sam lived only two years, but made a profound and lasting impression on our entire family. The daughter of friends suffered from a brain tumor discovered before her tenth birthday. Another friend was diagnosed with breast cancer before she turned forty. These could be random events, attributable to genetic variability and plain bad luck. Or they could be part of the invisible epidemicthe onslaught of disease and illnesses caused by the environmental hazards that are everywhere in todays world, though we can rarely see or sense them.

The invisible epidemic, and the shadows it has cast, haunt me. During nearly twenty years of practising and teaching environmental law, I focused much of my energy and attention on the health of ecosystems rather than people. The connections between the environment and human health were too personal, too painful to contemplate. Then, two events opened the door for me. The first was the birth of my daughter, Meredith. As every parent can attest, the arrival of a newborn provokes not only joy but unprecedented neuroses about all kinds of potential threats, including environmental risks. The second was the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dreampursuing a doctoral degree. I was able to study with experts in toxicology, epidemiology, and environmental health at the University of British Columbia. It was stunning to learn how little we really know about environment-health connections and how grossly inadequate our system of laws and policies is at protecting our healthand our childrens healthfrom environmental hazards. I began my studies believing that in the twenty-first century, following our disastrous experiences with tobacco, asbestos, lead, and other toxic substances, we surely must have learned from the lessons of the past. Unfortunately, I was wrong.