Review - The Toxic Consumer
Living Healthy in a Hazardous World
by Karen Ashton & Elisabeth Salter Green
Sterling, 2008
Review by Minna Forsell
Sep 23rd 2008 (Volume 12, Issue 39)

"We need to learn lessons from the recent past, or we will all pay a terrible price" (p. 44), writes the authors of this informative book about the toxic chemicals that permeate our world, our lives, our own, and even our children's bodies. There is reason to tell the tale about toxic chemicals in this apocalyptic tone, according to Ashton and Salter Green, because "most extraordinary of all is that the vast majority of these chemicals have never been adequately tested for their safety for humans or the environment" (p. 3). Here we have the starting-point of The Toxic Consumer: we cannot live on this earth without constant contact with chemicals, yet we hardly know what those chemicals are or what they do to us. The products we use to make our lives more comfortable right now, are perhaps the same things that will make our lives miserable in the long run.

The six chapters abound with examples of how toxic chemicals have come to stay, as it were. They blow with the wind and accumulate in our bodies, thus spreading throughout the world, from generation to generation, from species to species. The polar bear, for example, doesn't live close to factories or participate in industrial work. However, this animal is, according to the authors, one of the most toxic animals in the world. There are numerous thoughtprovoking illustations of our world's toxicity in this book, and they made at least me think about the influence of the invisible results of the chemical industry. All the products on sale that look so good, promise so much... The advertisements for new, improved things... They rarely mention the toxic chemicals that the consumer also gets, "for free". A new car, a mattress, food packages, even flooring – it could all make you sick in the long run. We buy skin-care products with a fresh fragrance and smooth texture... and toxins. When having a lunch-break at school children inhale fresh air ... plus toxins. Babies around the world drink mother's milk... with toxins. Since all the chemicals used around us cannot be seen, we tend not to think about them. In a rather effective way, The Toxic Consumer makes these invisible parts of our lives real, almost substantial. They are anonymous pieces of the environment and health puzzle, yet to be reckoned with.

Myself having grown up in a time when the use of chemicals had already made its breakthrough on the consumer market, found the discussion of rules and regulations versus the chemical industry very enlightening. Not that I wasn't aware of the fact that big corporations have money and lobbyists to speak for them, whereas newborn babies, whales and trees do not have as strong voices or influence on the global market, but frankly... I have just taken toxic chemicals as an unavoidable part of the world as it is today. The brief history of chemical legislation at the end of the book provided easy, yet disturbing reading about the political dynamics that decide the use of toxic chemicals, as well as worrisome predictions about the future. Up until now, and maybe also in the future, manufacturers of chemicals haven't had to prove that a chemical is safe; instead, regulators have had to ban them ad hoc, after their damaging effects have been shown. How come we allow this to happen? The chapter raises questions, and hints at answers. 

The message of this book is, however, not hinted at, but very clear: we need to be conscious about what and where toxical chemicals are, and learn how to minimize their negative impact on us and our environment. Anyone concerned with health issues can learn from this book how to recognize sources of potentially damaging chemicals, and how to choose more healthful alternatives. It is a guide book that offers the reader an introduction to the most common toxic chemicals, as well as suggestions on ways of avoiding them. It is easy to read, even though the often repeated names of chemicals don't allow for a very easily digestible text. However, all the abbreviations, such as EDC, DDT, PCB, and VOC, are carefully explained and linked to examples from everday life. This book is an informative call for attention. It may also stir some readers into action, but even if it doesn't, at least we can be pretty sure that it will have no damaging side effects. And that is, according to the authors of The Toxic Consumer, not bad, not bad at all.

© 2008 Minna Forsell

Minna Forsell is a psychologist, recently graduated from the University of Stockholm. She currently works in a psychiatric health care center in Volda, Western Norway.