Table of Contents

Introduction: What Are We Doing to Ourselves?     1
Down the Rabbit Hole
Reading the Signs     15
Myths We Cherish: Toxicity Is Someone Else's Problem     20
The Government Knows What Is Safe     22
There Is Truth In Labeling     24
The Poison Is in the Dose     27
We Can Handle the Body Burden     28
Playing Biological Roulette     30
From the Womb to the Grave     33
The Hidden Role of Synergies     34
Clues to a Health Mystery     40
Our Five Toxic Phases of Life     42
Your Personal Toxicity Test     53
A History of the Hundred-Year Lie     62
Strangers in a Strange Land
Wizards of Oz: The Food Industry     91
Let's Throw a Dinner Party     91
We Have Become What We Eat     94
How We Lost the Nutrients     97
Myths We Cherish: Food Additives Are Harmless     101
Artificial Sweeteners Are Safe     106
Pet Food Is Harmless     110
NASA Has Perfected Synthetic Food     112
Toxic Threats in Our Food     114
Toxic Threats in Our Water     116
sorcerer's Apprentices: The Drug and Medical Industries     118
Nature's Gift Abused     122
Myths We Cherish: The Government Insures That Drugs Are Safe     124
One Dose Fits All     127
Fluoridated Water Is Healthy for Us     130
We Get All the Vitamins We Need     134
Vaccinations Are Always Beneficial     139
Drugs Have Extended Our Life Spans     142
Overmedicating Our Children     144
The Marketing of Disease     145
We No Longer Know What to Expect     146
Are We Becoming a Mutant Species?     148
Canaries in a Coal Mine     152
Myths We Cherish: Plastics Are Harmless     155
Everything Is Normal     159
Animal Testing Predicts Human Health     162
Evolution or Extinction?     165
Learning to Protect Ourselves     169
Beyond Apocalypse Now
Our Health is Naturally Occurring     175
Pure Food Is Good Medicine     179
The Medicinal Wonder Foods     182
Myths We Cherish: Only Drugs Can Treat Depression     183
Food Doesn't Cause Violence     186
Only Drugs Can Relieve Pain     188
Placebos Don't Really Heal     189
Organic Food Is Always Pure      192
Centenarians Are Genetic Anomalies     195
Nature Is Our Best Pharmacy     197
When Western Medicine Fails     201
Myths We Cherish: Ancient Physicians Were Unsophisticated     207
Ancient Remedies Are Unscientific     210
Rediscovering Ancient Wisdom Traditions     214
Bringing It All Home     217
Afterword: A Detox Journey     229
How to Detoxify Yourself     241
Modern Science Affirms Ancient Cures     246
Postscript: More Evidence to Penetrate Our Denial     247
Bibliography     258
Acknowledgments     277
Index     278