poisoned

As a consumer, you trust that the products you eat, drink, use and offer your children and environment are safe. You trust companies not to poison you, but to act morally in the best interest of the customer. Should they not, there is a government to intervene. Unfortunately, companies and governments have been letting us down for decades, with ever-increasing consequences.

Most of the products we buy are harmful to a greater or lesser degree. From the non-stick pans, the heated plastic containers from take-out restaurants, the pretty brightly colored toys our children play with, much of the food we consume and the often harmful air, water and soil around us. It’s like a krimi with perpetrators, victims and a ´corrupt´ government. How did we let it come to this?

We are constantly exposed to toxic substances that often accumulate in our bodies and are even transmitted to generations. About these toxic substances, which are surprisingly legal, to which we expose humans and the environment, the authoritative UNEP judges that many substances to a greater or lesser extent: affect our fertility, are carcinogenic or are endocrine disruptors and dna-damaging. We are exposed to these toxins daily through almost all products around us.

The complexity of solving this problem is at least as great as the climate problem. This book offers good news – the problems largely caused in one generation – of which we are convinced can also be solved in one generation. Find out in this book what you can do to keep yourself, your family and your environment safe and how together we can prevent the planet from turning into a toxic garbage dump.

Professor Jacob de Boer is professor emeritus of environmental chemistry and toxicology. Since 1974, he has researched poorly degradable toxins. In 2006, he became a professor at VU and director of the Institute for Environmental Issues, among other things. He has written 250 scientific articles including one in Science and one in Nature. He is editor-in-chief of Chemosphere.

Rolf Heynen is a political scientist, engineer and entrepreneur. He has been active as an entrepreneur in the renewable energy sector since 2008. He built several sustainable businesses focused on the energy transition. He also works as a speaker, writer, administrator and consultant. He previously published the books “Shale Gas in 1 Hour and 43 Minutes” (2015) and “It Can Be Done” (2022).