Toxic bodies : hormone disruptors and the legacy of DES / Nancy Langston.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Langston, Nancy.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Endocrine disrupting chemicals--History.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals--Government policy--United States--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (252 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven [Conn.] : Yale University Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In 1941 the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of diethylstilbestrol (DES), the first synthetic chemical to be marketed as an estrogen and one of the first to be identified as a hormone disruptor-a chemical that mimics hormones. Although researchers knew that DES caused cancer and disrupted sexual development, doctors prescribed it for millions of women, initially for menopause and then for miscarriage, while farmers gave cattle the hormone to promote rapid weight gain. Its residues, and those of other chemicals, in the American food supply are changing the internal ecosystems of human, livestock, and wildlife bodies in increasingly troubling ways. In this gripping exploration, Nancy Langston shows how these chemicals have penetrated into every aspect of our bodies and ecosystems, yet the U.S. government has largely failed to regulate them and has skillfully manipulated scientific uncertainty to delay regulation. Personally affected by endocrine disruptors, Langston argues that the FDA needs to institute proper regulation of these commonly produced synthetic chemicals.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Disrupting Hormonal Signals

2. Before World War II: Chemicals, Risk, and Regulation

3. Help for Women Over Forty

4. Bigger, Stronger Babies with Diethylstilbestrol

5. Modern Meat: Hormones in Livestock

6. Growing Concerns

7. Assessing New Risks

8. Sexual Development and a New Ecology of Health

9. Precaution and the Lessons of History

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-299-46380-0

0-300-16299-5

OCLC:

841171126