This hard-hitting muckraking book is the result of award-winning journalist and filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin's two-year investigation of the toxins in the food chain in ten countries. There has been a huge increase in rates of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, reproductive disorders, and diabetes. She notes in the opening pages of the book that the agro-industrial model set up after World War II was designed to" feed the world." Instead it replaced family-food producing agriculture with monoculture and the result has been a reduction of biodiversity. The chemical products used in pesticides and fertilizers have not only polluted the environment but also contaminated our food.
The book is divided into three sections. In "Pesticides Are Poisons" Robin covers the large numbers who have gotten ill from pesticides and the link between these toxic substances and cancer.
In "Science and Industry: Manufacturing Doubt," we see the strategies used by the chemical industry to escape blame and to even keep highly dangerous products in the marketplace.
In "Regulation at Industry's Beck and Call," punctures what she calls "The Colossal Scientific Masquerade Behind Poisons' Acceptable Daily Intakes" and then goes on to assess the dangers of aspartame and the complicity of public authorities.
The final section is "The Shocking Scandal of Endoctrine Disruptions." It ought to convince everyone to eat organic and to speak out whenever they can about the poisoning of our food chain.
