Raising Healthy Children in a Toxic World (Rodale Organic Style Books) - Softcover

Landrigan, Phillip

Softcover

ISBN 10: 087596947X ISBN 13: 9780875969473

Publisher: Rodale, 2002

Synopsis

Identifying the critical pollutants in today's environment including lead, abestos, PCBs, and pesticides, a practical guide for parents and physicians explains how to minimize children's exposure, evaluate risks, and ensure community compliance with cleanup laws. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.

About this title

Review

What do salt, peaches, and carpet have in common? Two things: chances are you have them in your house, and they all have the potential for serious toxicity. Raising Healthy Children in a Toxic World is full of scary eye-openers, but it also includes plenty of ways to improve the well-being and safety of your family at home, work, daycare, or the local park.

The 101 suggestions in the book range far and wide in the search for common sources of toxicity and are further subdivided into areas of special interest. Each chapter has a short list of questions to help you identify which topics to focus on, such as "How old is your house?" and "Does your school have science labs?". Depending on the answer, a list of topic numbers will be of special interest in your hunt for solutions. Chapter topics include food safety (stop using antibiotic washes), household chemicals (don't use mildew-resistant paints), and reproductive risks, so it's also possible to simply flip to the area of greatest concern.

Because of arrangement by topic rather than toxin, easy solutions like giving away poisonous philodendrons and poinsettias are featured right next to suggestions on ripping out carpets and putting down wood floors; chemicals that are known to be instantly deadly are listed right next to potential sources of long-range impact. While the overall range is excellent, the book may be overwhelming to novices in the world of chemicals. --Jill Lightner

About the Author

Philip J. Landrigan, M.D., is professor of pediatrics, Chair of Community and Preventive Medicine, and director of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He directed a major study at the National Academy of Sciences on pesticides and children's diets.

Herbert L. Needleman, M.D., is a professor of child psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He is an internationally recognized expert on childhood lead poisoning, and in 1995, in recognition of his research and his advocacy on behalf of children, he was named winner of the prestigious Heinz Award for the Environment.

Mary M. Landrigan, M.P.A., is the director of health education and information for the Westchester County Department of health in New York. She creates and promotes public health education information on a variety of child and environmental health topics.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rodale
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 087596947X
• ISBN 13: 9780875969473
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 168