The Hundred-Year Lie: How to Protect Yourself from the Chemicals That Are Destroying Your Health

Fitzgerald makes good use of his impressive investigative reporting credentials in this eloquently written classic, which in my opinion achieves its main goal: it takes these concerns and grounds them firmly in historical documentation, research and science. Taking the perspective of a visitor from another planet, Fitzgerald identifies the myths that have become accepted as truth by many of us in modern society, and he asks whether they are keeping us from looking more closely at the way we live: There Is Truth In Labeling, The Government Knows What Is Safe, Drugs Have Extended Our Life Spans, Plastics Are Harmless, and We Can Handle The Body Burden (of toxins) are just some examples.I particularly enjoyed his chapter "A History of the Hundred-Year Lie" which gives a capsule overview of the many complex factors that have come into play in the last century. His timeline provides a detailed sketch of our increasing use of chemicals in many areas of daily life, and the parallel trail of health and environmental problems that have followed closely in their wake. While causal links are tricky to establish in the web of life, plotting all these points on the same time track was illuminating.Why title a review as Step One? Similar to a 12-step program, we as a culture are addicted to convenience and all the other benefits that come from a lifestyle built on the premise "Better Living Through Chemistry." We have participated in the creation of a technological consumer culture that is rapidly and radically altering our ability to survive individually and as a species. While a 12-step program is typically tied to a belief in God, I didn't choose that metaphor to be preachy...but it fits in the sense that the issues are so complex that we need deep insight and guidance based on a higher perspective to heal what we have created. And it wouldn't hurt to ask ourselves (taking inventory) whether we need to approach this as addicts, and heal our current dependence on chemicals which are slowly killing us. The author has laid the groundwork for the reader to come to grips with the magnitude of the issue and the scope of changes we need to make to fully assume responsibility for the state of things.I have only minor quibbles: The Appendix on Ancient Cures is so brief, and far enough outside the scope of this book that it hits an off note; perhaps that material should have been left to another book where it could be explored more fully. In some small sections of the book, Fitzgerald will draw a conclusion that isn't fully justified by his supporting material (even though I agree with some of those conclusions, the material wasn't always there); perhaps this happens in part because he tries to cover a broad landscape and yet keep his work concise.At times we can see that Fitzgerald has overreached his level of expertise; he isn't a trained biologist or toxicologist. He might address this in a future edition by drawing on a broader cadre of technical reviewers. And as far as next steps, the resources he points the reader toward are very good but could be stronger; as someone who has reviewed a number of books toward the same end, I found especially that the books and resources for detoxifying ourselves that he chose to feature are uneven in quality, some of them being great choices (Rapp, Rodgers), and others relatively weak (Baillie-Hamilton). Several areas of essential personal detoxification could thus be better represented (health and beauty products, healthy home environment, internal detoxification programs, food additives and excitotoxins, and tools/references consumers can use to evaluate the cost/benefit equation of taking specific synthetic pharmaceutical drugs).The book proper, however, is extremely well-researched and capably written. Fitzgerald has on the whole assimilated and synthesized a broad range of technical material, with many noteworthy works cited within the flow of the story itself. This alone provides us with numerous high-quality resources for further exploration, and would provide any thoughtful reader with plenty of grist for the mill. I learned about (and ordered) a number of books as a result!I strongly recommend this book. It is a great tool for developing awareness of what the problem is, how it developed, what popular attitudes support it, and how we can begin a journey to restoring balance to ourselves and this precious blue water world that supports our very existence.

This book, written in 2006 and published in 2007, includes all the things you wish you'd known when they were happening, so maybe--just maybe--had we known them at the time, we might have had a way of stopping them. In retrospect, buying this book was just the tip of my suspicions that something awful was going on with the chemical industry, and that something worse is probably coming in the future.This book is written in everyday language that any lay person can understand. Reading like a can't-put-it-down murder mystery, it's chock-full of sourced, credible information that makes you wonder HOW what's happened was allowed to happen. Decade by decade, the author pinpoints what new health hazards were introduced, and highlights the horror that somebody who was in a position to have stopped these chemicals from destroying our food system, didn't.In the end, what we know is that we were lied to, and continue to be lied to even as the various destructive, individual chemicals are brought to light. The only question is how long can mankind live like this before there is no help or hope? The final word is that you can bring it all home and work to detoxify yourself, and to avoid as many chemicals as possible, but the ongoing question is how long do you even have to do that, if the system that is supposed to watch out for you is actually watching out for Wall Street and the bottom line?

I first read this book in 2011, and was so blown away, that I have been recommending it ever since. This is in the top 5 of my MUST READ books, and once you do, you will never look at our world in the same way, and most importantly .. those so-called "health" authorities the same, ever again. The powers that be are not in this for our best interest, as they are financially entangled with the very companies they are meant to regulate and protect us from; our "agencies" are captured and corrupted, and those who do not do their own research, will be at their mercy; looking at a lifetime of health issues, and being a customer of Big Pharma from cradle to a much more expedited grave. Understand, theirs is not to cure you, it's to keep you a customer for as long as you live. The unholy alliance is Big Food/Big Ag/Big Medicine/Big Pharma all working together to "create" the problem, and supply the "solution" in the form of the most financially beneficial (to themselves) way.

Very topical. You just won't believe how surrounded we are by chemicals that are detrimental to our health. Creates awareness, can help toward making some changes in your life for a safer environment.

Excellent read !!! This is one of the best books I have read on the history of our food sources and other consumer products. Tons of data on the changes in health and disease rates relating to the changes in food, drugs etc. Supports my view on more natural products like butter vs margarine. I have recommended this to many others to read.

The hundred-year lie written by Randall Fitzgerald is about an idea on how our modern lifes are killing us.Randall writes with interesting insight to warn us about the profit hungry industries hiding toxic chemicals in almost all of our everyday products, whilst excluding the toxic "inert" ingredients from their contents lists through trade secrecy and society's complacent belief in our governments welfare for us; in reality they don't really have the resources to fully check all the interactions of a fraction of the chemicals that they allow into our world.Although I'm a terrible skeptic, the book has already persuaded me enough to make a few changes in my life; scare-mongering or not, you can't ignore the truths in this immensely interesting and socially terrifying book.

Okay - scared the crap out of me!! A must read by all.

The content is very relevant, but the author mostly bombards you with statistics and anecdotes. Some of those are very unstructured. He refers to the rise in testicular cancer incidence in the US in three different places comparing three different points in time. In the end I'm unclear how much it did grow. This adds to a feeling of repetitiveness.