Poisoned Profits Response

When I first started reading Poisoned Profits I did not love it. Something about the way it was written bothered me, and I felt like every sentence was constructed in such a way as to rile people up, and really get them angry at the big "evil" chemical companies. This is the type of persuasive writing that always gets under my skin, because I do not think there is anything truly evil about a company seeking to maximize profits at the expense of the environment-it is simply extremely irresponsible and short-sighted. That being said, however, I started to come around when I realized how much research the Shabecoffs obviously had to do for this book, and the way the information was put together in an easy to understand, accessible story. Once I realized how the book was set up I became more interested; the first half gave numerous statistics regarding skyrocketing hazardous chemical production and the decrease in the health of many Americans (especially children). The second half then went on to describe how the system works, and how we can begin to correct this steadily worsening situation. Although I did not agree with everything that was said in the latter, it was nice to see that the authors were offering solutions instead of simply scaring everyone and telling them not to eat or touch anything.

I also thought it was great to be able to talk to the Shabecoffs via Skype, and it was really nice of them to take the time to figure out the technology and stick with us through all of the technical difficulties. Both offered a lot of insight into what went into the making of the book, and it was interesting to learn more about their careers. Something that really caught my attention was when Philip said that, although he was expecting to be harassed and sued by the big chemical companies when the book was released, he actually met very little opposition. Multi billion dollar companies would have no trouble making anyone's life a living hell, especially someone who wrote a book with pages and pages of statistics and numbers, not all of which could be totally defended if thoroughly investigated. I find it very interesting, then, that the chemical industry seemed to do exactly what the class suggested would have been in their best interest when going up against Rachel Carson, and that is completely ignore the book. Luckily, judging by the popularity of the book it appears as though the message has reached the people nonetheless, helping everyday American citizens to become more aware of what their children are exposed to. While this was not my absolute favorite book, I must admit that it did grow on me, and I would recommend it to anyone who does not see that mankind is truly destroying the only environment we have in virtually every imaginable way for the sake of profit.