POISONED PROFITS
Philip & Alice Shabecoff
INTRODUCTION
The book is cast as a crime story, adopting the approach of a prosecutor with a metaphorical allegation
against the offenders.
CHAPTER 1: INQUEST
They begin with the story of the town of Dickinson, Tennessee, and “Miss Judy,” who runs a day care
center there. She began to become aware of the unusually high number of children in Dickinson born
with birth defects. Then four children were born in the town in a very short period with a rare brain
malformation. She began to track the location of the homes of these malformed babies & discovered
that they were all located in the area around the town’s landfill. The landfill had been used for years as a
dumping ground for liquid waste of several local companies, in spite of the state dept of public health’s
assertion that it was not appropriate for that use. Even after the state ordered a halt to it, ScovillSchrader Inc., the worst offender, continued to dump trailer loads of waste there. Tests were done and
confirmed that high levels of benzene, toluene, xylene, and trichloroethylene (TCE) had contaminated
the town’s groundwater. Scovill moved its plant to North Carolina and abandoned the town and its
children who live with a legacy of malformations, cancer, and staggering medical bills.
CHAPTER 2: INDICTMENT
Unfortunately, Dickinson is not unique. Clusters of malformed and diseased children exist all over the
country in areas where toxic pollution and contamination from manufacturing have occurred. TCE is
known to cause cancer, low birth weight, fetal death, birth defects, and more, yet it is one of the most
common toxics found across the nation’s water supply.
The authors go on to explain how these many toxins and pollutants enter our bodies without our
knowledge: in our water, food, the air we breathe, from the products we use each day in our home.
Under current law, manufacturers are not required to supply toxicity data before putting the products
on the market. With their developing brains and bodies, children are particularly at risk from these toxic
chemicals. It is almost impossible to get justice for those affected by this toxic pollution; the burden of
proof almost always rests with the victims who do not have the financial resources to fight the large
corporate offenders.
In the words of Landrigan and Needleman, two scientists and physicians working in the field of
environmental pediatrics: “We are by default conducting a massive clinical toxological trial. And our
children and their children are the experimental animals” (20). The epidemic of chronic illness among
our children is completely preventable, but until we raise our voice to demand change, the childhood
illness and death caused by this toxic pollution will continue.
CHAPTER 3: VICTIMS
Here, the authors tell the story of a number of children and towns: petrochemical plants next to housing projects,
rubber plants pumping out butadiene (a potent carcinogen) next to high school playing fields. The children of these
situations pay the price for the corporate irresponsibility with cancer, asthma, birth, defects, and much more.
The authors spend time explaining why children—both born and unborn—are so much more vulnerable to these
threats: critical periods of vulnerability in the embryonic and fetal stages, as well as throughout the process of the
development of the organs; lower body weight; lower levels of defenses; the toxic elimination capacity of the
protective enzymes, liver, and kidneys is not fully operational until adulthood; and much, much more.
CHAPTER 4: THE EVIDENCE
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Of America’s 73 million children, almost 21 million, 1 in 3, suffer from a chronic disease.
58,000 have cancer.
2.5 million have been born with debilitating birth defects.
6 million have asthma.
12 million have developmental disorders.
In 1950, childhood cancer was a rarity; from 1950 to 2001, the incidence of childhood cancer
increased 67.1% and the trend has only increased in subsequent years.
Reproductive disorders and malformation of reproductive organs has risen sharply, as well. The
amount of chemicals produced in the US has increased 750% since 1980.
There are now 82,000 chemicals produced, which can be found in more than 10 million
products.
The body burden of children has been shown time and time again, in many studies, to be
dramatically more than an adult under the same conditions in the same environment.
The national IQ average among tested children has dropped 5 points in one generation,
doubling the number of clinically retarded children.
How has all of this been allowed to occur? Industrial chemicals are considered innocent until proven
guilty. A manufacturer is under no obligation to study a chemical’s effects on humans or the
environment. The Toxic Substance Control Act in 1976 attempted to change this situation, but only
about 15% of the chemicals introduced in the past 30 years have complied & submitted data to the EPA.
As the Shabecoffs point out, the absence of data is not proof of safety. Of those they can regulate, the
EPA employs a cost-benefit analysis in assessing risk, i.e. one lost IQ point from toxic exposure is
considered equal to $9000 over the course of a human lifetime. This dollar amount was used to assess
how strictly to legislate lead poisoning risk.
Chemicals have been tested enough to know they are toxic. Children’s life expectancy, quality of life, IQ,
productivity have been radically reduced and it was all completely preventable. We have the science to
eliminate these risks and exposures from their lives.
CHAPTER 5: THE SCENE
This chapter takes the reader through the average child’s daily environment, highlighting the risks of
exposure, with a focus on the home. The Shabecoffs identify the potentially dangerous chemicals
around the home, such as phthalates (which are present in 2/3 of personal hygiene products),
formaldehyde, benzene, PVC (polyvinylchloride), often in deadly combinations. The pervasiveness of
these chemicals in the typical home environment is overwhelming. The dangers exist both for existing
children and the unborn. It is estimated that 137,000 miscarriages per year are caused by the
consumption of trihalomethane, a by-product of the chlorination of tap water. Chemicals endlessly
enter & re-enter our water supply through the “toilet to tap” cycle of water treatment and processing.
The food supply is a considerable source of danger for children, as well. The “circle of poison” (US selling
pesticides to overseas farmers that are not allowed to be used in this country; then importing the
produce overseas produce, thereby poisoning our own children with the poison we sold) assures that
significant amounts of dangerous pesticides make it into our children’s diets. Children eat more fruit and
vegetables than any segment of the population. Also a significant source of contamination are fish
(mercury and other heavy metals), meat (dioxins stored in animal fat, antibiotics & growth stimulants,
arsenic, steroids), and the additives in prepared/processed foods.
The child’s outside environment is equally as dangerous. Over half the US population lives in areas that
violate the national clean air standards and breathe smog, soot, and many carcinogenic chemicals, such
as dioxins.
Thanks to the process of bioaccumulation, many of these chemicals are stored in the fatty tissue of the
body and build up over time, wreaking havoc on the body.
CHAPTER 6: FORENSICS
In this chapter the authors seek the answer to the question “What makes the poison?” or, why do these
chemicals affect children; what factors turn them deadly? They come up with a number of criteria that
determine this:
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Repeated exposures
Children & infants more biologically vulnerable
Timing of exposure
Pathway of ingestion
Gender
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Combinations of chemicals
Genetic susceptibility/variability
They look at the nature of disease and highlight how very few diseases are solely genetic; it is
environmental influences that disrupt and disregulate the gene that triggers the disease, even if one did
have a genetic predisposition. Many infants are “prenatally programmed” for disease by chromosomal
damage caused in utero by environmental factors, and they discuss the study of this phenomena,
toxicogenomics.
They look at post 9/11 genetic damage, where at Ground Zero existed the highest concentration of
dioxins ever recorded. But they also discuss that in spite of the dramatic cancer clusters seen in adults
and children born to adults who were exposed on 9/11 and during the clean-up, both the lack of funding
and the scientific method itself (isolated variables) makes it impossible to show “proof” that will be
acceptable to the scientific community.
CHAPTER 7: PERPETRATORS
The corporate ethos of maximizing profit with no responsibility to anyone but the shareholders is at the
heart of the problem. Therefore, in this chapter the Shabecoffs look at the “rap sheets” of some of the
worst and largest corporate offenders and some case studies demonstrating their irresponsibility. They
discuss the crimes of General Electric in Pittsfield, Massachusetts (PCB contamination of the Housatonic
River and surrounding area). The PCBs used in Pittsfield were actually manufactured by Monsanto (and
their chemical division, Solutia) in Anniston, Alabama. So the authors then turn their focus to the
contamination of the Anniston area, populated primarily by impoverished minorities. For over 40 years
PCBs, mercury, and other toxic chemicals were routinely dumped into the streams and landfills around
the town, with no care for the residents. Monsanto also has a lot to answer for in their manufacture
and promotion of other questionable and dangerous chemical products that have greatly affected
children, chiefly:
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Aspartame, or NutraSweet, which is consumed by millions of children in soft drinks every day
and has been shown to cause leukemia, lymphoma, and adversely affect brain receptors in
laboratory tests;
Alachor, or Lasso, a potent herbicide, which has contaminated the groundwater in many areas
and reaches children through their drinking water; it has been shown to cause permanent
damage to many organs and cancer in cases of long-term exposure;
Bovine Growth Hormone, which affects every person who consumes dairy (children consuming
large quantities of milk and cheese) and can cause hormonal issues and cancer;
Agent Orange and its contaminant TCDD, a form of dioxin, which has been shown to cause
horrible birth defects, such as spina bifida, and whose effects are passed down for generations
in the DNA
The authors also look extensively at Dow Chemical and the contamination of Tom’s River, New Jersey,
which has one of the largest childhood cancer clusters in the country. And also DuPont Chemical and
their promotion of leaded gasoline, CFCs, and Teflon (PFOA), all of which have been shown to have
considerable toxic effects on humans and the environment, especially in communities like Parkersburg,
West Virginia, where DuPont daily dumped PFOA into the river and contaminated the town’s drinking
water and childhood cancer is at a staggering high.
In all of these situations, the Shabecoffs provide a number of first-hand, personal stories of those
affected by the corporate greed and irresponsibility: children dying of cancer, having daily seizures,
permanent brain damage, and much more. The American Chemistry Council spends millions every year
on lobbying and the companies spend billions on advertising to convince us that unsafe and often
untested products and chemicals, are in fact safe. Until and unless some shift can be made in their
short-term, profit-at-any-cost viewpoint, children will continue to suffer and die for their wallets.
CHAPTER 8: CO-CONSPIRATORS
However, the shift discussed at the end of the previous chapter seems unlikely, so the authors declare
here that corporations are going to have to be forced to do the right thing by government intervention.
And if the government will not take this action, then it is a co-conspirator in these crimes against
children.
Although some limited headway was made in this regard in the Carter administration, there was a
tremendous backlash when Reagan came into office. Environmental regulation slowed and enforcement
of existing laws came to a virtual halt. Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” gave corporations an
open door and the independent body (Office of Technology assessment) that provided non-partisan
scientific information and assessment, was abolished. The Clinton/Gore administration was able to
offset some of these losses, but the subsequent administration of George W. Bush did more damage
than any other: “dismantle(ing) firewalls” that protected the citizens from corporate abuse, relaxing
what legal requirements existed (including safeguards against deadly mercury pollution), adopting a
“revolving door” policy of political appointment, and only accepting studies and advice from “businessfriendly” scientists.
In the end, the authors seem to have some hope that public opinion will shift (as they note has
happened on the subject of climate change) against the corporations towards the protection of
children’s health and the environment, and it is this shift in public opinion that will force the
government to force the corporations to do the right thing.
CHAPTER 9: WITNESSES FOR THE DEFENSE
Here, the authors discuss the pervasiveness of “made to order science”—the manufactured scientific
“evidence” used by the corporations to instill confidence in their product and hide the risk from the
public. Studies are skewed by carefully selecting only certain test subjects, testing sites, small sampling,
and more to make the studies “prove” what the manufacturers want to show. Then these studies are
used to influence legislation in the corporations’ favor.
They give many examples, such as the “White Coat Project” undertaken by the tobacco companies in
the 1980s to show that secondhand smoke was innocuous. By paying doctors and scientists to say
exactly what the tobacco industry wanted (and funneling the payments through law firms, so the studies
couldn’t be subpoenaed), they lied to the public and put them in harm’s way.
As in the case of the study of Atrazine (a chemical herbicide), when an employed scientist stands behind
their findings that a chemical is dangerous (studies showed it is a powerful hormone disruptor and
causes cancer in laboratory animals), clauses in the contract do not allow the scientist to publish adverse
findings. And if they go against the company they are discredited and blacklisted.
Intimidation, false studies, and in the end, money (through corporate campaign contributions and
lobbying) keep the truth from ever reaching the public and keep the laws in favor of the corporate
manufacturers.
CHAPTER 10: POSSE COMITATUS
Here they tell the stories of several advocacy groups that have sprung up on behalf of the children, in
some attempt to protect them and the children of the future from this corporate greed.
The first story is about a Michaela, a happy, normal one-year-old who changed overnight and was
diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder after receiving an immunization. Her parents received no
explanation from the doctors, but had to educate themselves and become their child’s own advocate,
and in the end, activists against the use of mercury in vaccines. Michaela will never lead a normal life,
her treatment now costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, and her care is a full-time job for her
parents. Mercury is proven to cause significant damage to brain function in fetuses and children, yet the
drug companies still use it as a cheap preservative in childhood vaccines. Parents, like Michaela’s, all
over the country whose children have developed autism after receiving these vaccines have organized
and attempting to fight the corporate dollar that continues to put children at risk.
They trace many other similar stories of activism and organizing springing up out of disaster and
heartbreak: a trail of children’s bodies have inspired “posses” who are out to protect the children from
the manufacturers and corporate interests that do not have their safety at heart, and the government
agencies that buy into the corporate line. Some groups employ “bucket brigades” to collect air samples
in communities where factories and plants are suspected of emitting harmful chemicals and causing
cancers and innumerable other health risks to the people of the town.
These “posses” have grown to include many scientists, scholars, and doctors (Wargo is mentioned here)
who perform research, testify and fight on behalf of the children.
CHAPTER 11: VALUES
In the end it comes down to values; the protection of children should transcend labels of liberal,
conservative, democrat, republican, et al, and yet somehow it has not, in most cases. The core “value”
of the profit margin above all else has prevented this. As the Shabecoffs say, “our professed values do
not match the values we live by in the real world” (226). Without a fundamental shift in the corporate
value system and the government value system that puts corporations before the children of the nation,
we will never be safe.
The authors give a couple of pages here to the role of religion (particularly Christianity) and the lack of
action by the churches, citing the familiar Lynn White and “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis”
(they also include quotes from Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker, 227). They tell the stories of a couple of
exceptions to this inaction, both clergy involved in small-scale community actions and players in large
organizations, such as Richard Cizek of the National Association of Evangelicals. But they emphasize that
this is the minority and that the religious right is firmly in bed with corporate financial interests,
particularly the oil, gas, coal, and automotive sector.
CHAPTER 12: JUSTICE
They declare that justice for the children is possible, but ask the question, “Will it happen?” Will we
obtain justice for the children or merely continue to “avert our eyes?” (here is the only mention of
climate change in the book, but merely as an example of another subject that Americans pretend does
not exist and this denial will have dire consequences for the future).
They say that the primary duty is parental, making sure that their child is exposed to as few toxins and
chemical contaminants in the home, as possible. The parent must educate themselves on these dangers,
and reduce risk in the only environment they are able to control.
Corporations must be made to answer for these crimes through public pressure. We must not support
them with our purchasing dollar. They will not go quietly. We must boycott, demand government action,
and spread the word.
We need a fundamental restructuring of US laws, corporate reform, more focus on the new “green”
chemistry, and an embracing of the precautionary principle. We need to ask ourselves:
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“What level of risk is acceptable, if any?”
“Do we really need this item/product in the first place?”
“Are there any healthier, safer alternatives we could use?”
And in the end, we must rethink our priorities, or the children will pay the consequences, as so many
have already.
APPENDIX A:
A list of practical steps parents can take to reduce their own child’s exposure
APPENDIX B:
A list of resources for further information: books, organizations, websites, etc.