. . .a slow and steady decline in health In ancient societies, a slow death by poisoning was a common fate befalling royalty; slipping a little arsenic into the king's wine every day led to a steady decline in his health until one day, voila! Regime change! Americans now pamper ourselves like royalty with all kinds of bodycare products: shampoos and conditioners, soaps, cosmetics, lotions, hand creams, eye creams, night creams, shaving creams, firmers, toners, colognes, deodorants and toothpastes. The average American uses 9 such products each and every day; a lot of people use as many as 15. Unfortunately, unless you've been unusually scrupulous in choosing products, you are, like ancient royalty, being slowly and steadily poisoned. In those 9 products, there are an average of 126 different synthetic chemicals -- not all poisons, but many toxic enough to do serious damage to your health. Toxins in bodycare products generally fall into four categories: neurotoxins, endocrine disrupters…

Children’s energy and zest for living make us adults feel alive and joyful. They seem to epitomize good health. But appearances can be deceiving. Like most Americans today, our children are suffering from poor nutrition and toxicity, the two causes of disease. And while children may appear invulnerable, nutrient deficiencies and toxic exposures are taking a silent and sometimes not-so-silent toll. The truth is that even though the knowledge exists to raise strong, healthy children, it is difficult to find a truly healthy child. Child poverty is a significant problem in the US, but even the children of affluent and highly-educated parents have multiple nutrient deficiencies based on government standards, which are already too low. Meanwhile, chemical use in America has gone up 2,000% over the past half century. More than 85,000 synthetic chemicals (only a tiny fraction of which have been tested for safety in humans) are now found in our air, water, soil, food, household furnish…