Poisons In Your Food

“An enlightening and deeply disturbing account” of the dangerous chemicals that have infiltrated our food, by the Rachel Carson Prize–winning journalist (Booklist). Our Daily Poison is “a gripping and urgent book” for anyone concerned about democracy, corporate power, or public health (Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved). In it, award-winning journalist and filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin travels across North America, Europe, and Asia to document the shocking array of chemicals we encounter in our daily lives—from the pesticides that blanket our crops to the additives and plastics that contaminate our food—and their effects on our health over time. Following the trail of the synthetic molecules in our environment and our food, Robin traces the ugly history of industrial chemical production, as well as the shoddy regulatory system for chemical products that still operates today. Using scientific studies, expert testimony, and interviews with farmworkers suffering from acute chronic poisoning, Robin demonstrates how corporate interests—and our own ignorance—may be costing us our lives. “What Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking Silent Spring did for the environmental movement, Robin is doing for awareness of toxins in the food chain.” —Publishers Weekly “This may be one of the most important books of the year.” —Kirkus Reviews “Full of facts, stories, and wisdom.” —The Huffington Post

This volume describes some of the new research published since volume 1 of the series, Plant and fungal toxins , was published in 1983. A few chapters update topics previously treated, but most describe in depth the toxicologic and chemical aspects of other topics. Thus volumes 1 and 6 together prov

With reference to India.

A New York Times Notable Book The inspiration for PBS's AMERICAN EXPERIENCE film The Poison Squad. From Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times-bestselling author Deborah Blum, the dramatic true story of how food was made safe in the United States and the heroes, led by the inimitable Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, who fought for change By the end of nineteenth century, food was dangerous. Lethal, even. "Milk" might contain formaldehyde, most often used to embalm corpses. Decaying meat was preserved with both salicylic acid, a pharmaceutical chemical, and borax, a compound first identified as a cleaning product. This was not by accident; food manufacturers had rushed to embrace the rise of industrial chemistry, and were knowingly selling harmful products. Unchecked by government regulation, basic safety, or even labelling requirements, they put profit before the health of their customers. By some estimates, in New York City alone, thousands of children were killed by "embalmed milk" every year. Citizens--activists, journalists, scientists, and women's groups--began agitating for change. But even as protective measures were enacted in Europe, American corporations blocked even modest regulations. Then, in 1883, Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, a chemistry professor from Purdue University, was named chief chemist of the agriculture department, and the agency began methodically investigating food and drink fraud, even conducting shocking human tests on groups of young men who came to be known as, "The Poison Squad." Over the next thirty years, a titanic struggle took place, with the courageous and fascinating Dr. Wiley campaigning indefatigably for food safety and consumer protection. Together with a gallant cast, including the muckraking reporter Upton Sinclair, whose fiction revealed the horrific truth about the Chicago stockyards; Fannie Farmer, then the most famous cookbook author in the country; and Henry J. Heinz, one of the few food producers who actively advocated for pure food, Dr. Wiley changed history. When the landmark 1906 Food and Drug Act was finally passed, it was known across the land, as "Dr. Wiley's Law." Blum brings to life this timeless and hugely satisfying "David and Goliath" tale with righteous verve and style, driving home the moral imperative of confronting corporate greed and government corruption with a bracing clarity, which speaks resoundingly to the enormous social and political challenges we face today.

This classic Crown book is back with all of Ruth Winter's original, thorough research about dangerous foods and what consumers can do to protect themselves.

This book is one of a kind with analysis of near 8000 records of foods tested in Canada for glyphosate by Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA recently. Tests cover foods from over 60 countries, the bulk of which were foods produced in Canada and the United States, followed by India and China. No other country has conducted this many tests on food for glyphosate and no other analysis exists on this data as of now.North American foods are most contaminated by glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup weed killer, the most used herbicide in the planet.The book is over 300 pages long, with over 70,000 words, and more than 300 tables. The data is sorted in chapters, on glyphosate in food according to country of origin, and separately as per food types, such as grains, beans, flour, lentils, fruits, vegetables, and ready made meals, organic and gluten free foods. A lot of raw data figures are included.Attention is given to foods produced in North America, which contribute a bulk of the samples, followed by foods from India and China and a comparison between them. Some of the findings were as expected while some are totally unexpected, and often shocking.Here are a few examples:1) Canada and USA produce the most toxic foods on the planet, with regard to glyphosate contamination.2) Within North America, Canada produces foods with significantly higher levels of glyphosate.3) Within Canada, the west is where one can find more glyphosate contaminated foods than from other regions within Canada. Western Canada is ground zero, for finding nasty foods.5) Cleanest of food suppliers are Peru, Thailand, France, South Africa, Mexico, and China. China apparently exports cleaner foods than what locals consume inside China. For example, imported foods from China, averaging 3 ppb contamination, is 28 times cleaner than foods produced in the US, and over 45 times cleaner than foods produced in Canada.6) Foods imported from Mexico is 70 times cleaner than Canadian foods and over 40 times cleaner than foods originating in the United States.7) Conventional foods desiccated by glyphosate is far more contaminated with glyphosate than roundup ready GM crops.8) Out of the main cereals, rice is about the only one that is more or less without any glyphosate, except for some rice and rice-products produced in North America.9) Lentils and chickpea (garbanzo) produced in North America, as well as foods made with these ingredients are highly contaminated with glyphosate.10) Although soy flour may contain high glyphosate, tofu made out of soy has none.11) Wheat bran produced in Canada has an average of around 2,500 ppb of glyphosate in every sample.12) Organic foods are much better than conventional foods, but are not completely free of glyphosate. Gluten free foods are a mixed bag since some of them are high on glyphosate content, while others are clean.The author maintains that as long as safety data based on which glyphosate was approved for use in agriculture is kept out of reach of the public, and as long as independent verification of the results is denied, there is no proof that glyphosate is safe at any level of contamination. This book is meant to be a useful guide for people that have already reached a conclusion that glyphosate is an unwanted chemical to be in their food and would rather have a tool that helps them avoid it in their selection of foods to buy and eat.Retired EPA scientist Dr. Vallianatos wrote a review on Huffington Post:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tainting-the-cornucopia-of-north-america_us_58decd30e4b0ca889ba1a5cf