Cleaning House
The Fight to Rid Our Homes of Toxic Chemicals
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
From the front lines of the movement for safer products, environmental health expert Lindsay Dahl takes us on her journey from skeptic to activist, exposing the secret forces that keep toxic chemicals in our homes, bodies, and environment—showing us how to fight back and keep our families safe.
In Cleaning House, Lindsay Dahl shows how seemingly innocuous items—everything from toys to common beauty and cleaning products—can include toxic chemicals, thanks to a consistent failure of regulation in the United States. The scientific research linking toxic chemicals in products to rising rates of cancer and reproductive harms is as strong as the science that led to banning lead from gasoline, PBCs, and DDT. But with varying degrees of protective guardrails in place for the everyday items, consumers are tasked with playing toxic-chemical detective and those unable to afford safer products are left hanging in the balance. Through vivid storytelling and robust scientific evidence, Dahl makes a compelling case that a safer world will only arrive through systemic change. We must turn off the tap of toxic chemicals before they make their way into our homes and bodies—and here she shows you how.
Drawing on Dahl’s extensive experience as a lobbyist, product formulator, and a parent, she unravels the shocking web of political and cultural factors that landed us here and are key to solving this massive public health crisis. Dahl takes readers behind the scenes as a young but determined lobbyist fighting powerful chemical industry players, which she discovered are replicating Big Tobacco’s disinformation playbook by downplaying the harms of the toxic chemicals they continue to profit from. And she introduces readers to the brilliant scientists doing ground-breaking research, legislators passing life-saving laws, forward-thinking business leaders, communities facing the highest level of exposure to toxic chemical pollution, and parents from all political stripes who have joined the fight for a safer world.
Told through a compelling David and Goliath narrative, Cleaning House dares to take a pragmatic and science-based approach to the concept of clean living, in a time where the wellness movement is threatened by partisan politics and misinformation. It is an essential read for anyone who wants a safer home and a safer future for our children.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Dahl, an activist who has helped pass over 30 laws banning toxic chemicals, brings her decades of experience to bear in this revelatory and concise debut survey of the current state of the fight against toxic consumer products. She begins by recounting a shopping trip to Target with her two young children, noting the hazardous products she steers clear of and why; for instance, in choosing rain boots, she passes over "sparkly pink vinyl ones" for those made of rubber because vinyl is carcinogenic. Dahl goes on to identify three major factors hampering safety reforms: chemical companies' reliance on toxicology, which she dubs an "old science" incapable of addressing "how invisible chemicals... behave in ways we had never expected them to"; the absence of meaningful federal oversight; and the pernicious impact of social media, where "anyone can be an ‘expert.' " The book provides readers with an action plan containing clear specifics on how to shop for toxin-free products, and gives an overview of the challenges to reform presented by the Trump administration, which has allied with the American Chemistry Council, an industry trade group dedicated to combatting regulations on toxic chemicals (Nancy Beck, currently the senior adviser in the EPA's office of chemical safety, is a former ACC toxicologist). This informative guide will leave readers both disturbed and empowered.
