1. Beyond the Dreams of the Borgias.
- Subjects
PHYSIOLOGICAL effects of chemicals ,HAZARDOUS substances ,DIET ,PESTICIDES industry - Abstract
The article discusses the issue of the intake of hazardous chemicals into the human diet. Probably no person is immune to contact with this spreading contamination unless he lives in the most isolated situation imaginable. Lulled by the soft sell and the hidden persuader, the average citizen is seldom aware of the deadly materials with which he is surrounding himself; indeed, he may not realize he is using them at all. Gardening is now firmly linked with the super poisons. Every hardware store, garden-supply shop, and supermarket has rows of insecticides for every conceivable horticultural situation. To find a diet free from DDT and related chemicals, it seems one must go to a remote and primitive land, still lacking the amenities of civilization. Such a land appears to exist, at least marginally, on the far Arctic shores of Alaska--although even there one may see the approaching shadow. The files of the Food and Drug Administration contain records of a disturbing number of such violations. The system by which the Food and Drug Administration establishes maximum permissible limits of contamination, called "tolerances," has obvious defects. Under the conditions prevailing it provides mere paper security and promotes a completely unjustified impression that safe limits have been established and are being adhered to.
- Published
- 1962