Your book, Sicker, Fatter, Poorer, is about the dangers of hormone-disrupting chemicals. What makes these substances so harmful?
Hormones are natural signaling molecules, and synthetic hormone-disrupting chemicals scramble those signals and contribute to disease and disability. We know of about 1,000 synthetic chemicals that do that, but the evidence is strongest for four categories of them: flame retardants used in electronics and furniture; pesticides in agriculture; phthalates in personal-care products, cosmetics, and food packaging; and bisphenols, like BPA, that are used in aluminum cans and thermal-paper receipts. These chemicals can have permanent consequences. Male and female infertility, endometriosis, fibroids, breast cancer, obesity, diabetes, cognitive deficits, and autism have been directly or indirectly linked to them.
How do these chemicals get into our bodies?
We absorb them through our skin. They’re…
