Living downstream essay
History
The toxic century is a product of military technologies entering the marketplace after war. Do you agree or disagree? Draw on multiple specific examples to justify your position.
Intro/Thesis
The toxic century refers a history of events in how mankind has polluted the environment and even our own bodies. This was done using harmful chemicals and toxins through a variety of military and industrial practices. Even now if we eat healthy, exercise and live the most innocent lives, you can come under attack from this invisible enemy, simply by existing on this planet. What caused this? Of the 200 organic chemicals known to cause breast cancer in animals 203 are manmade and 9 are natural. This stat shows us that we created a toxic environment. Wilhelm Hueper who we learned about in class said The majority of human cancers are traceable to environmental exposures and therefore potentially preventable” “Why did we do this to ourselves? After each World War, numerous military plus industrial practices and technologies have introduced a series of new chemicals into our bodies and damaged the environment we call home. This led to many diseases such as cancer or •Itai itai byō •(ouch ouch sickness) the toxic century is a by-product of rapid industrialization due to war.
Sandra Steingraber wrote the book living downstream about her experiences with cancer and chemicals. In it she details the wars in playing an active role in the toxic century and in her words” changed chemistry and physics forever.” After each world war the need for each country trying to rapidly industrialize in order to beat other countries was so important that common sense was not present. Countries decided to forgo safety checks in order to make sure their products were more effective. As a result, many chemicals such as chorine, DDT (used as an insect repellant in the war) and PCB’s were released in society for commercial use. DDT in particular was linked to cancer and hurt wildlife in the
The toxic century is a product of military technologies entering the marketplace after war. Do you agree or disagree? Draw on multiple specific examples to justify your position.
Intro/Thesis
The toxic century refers a history of events in how mankind has polluted the environment and even our own bodies. This was done using harmful chemicals and toxins through a variety of military and industrial practices. Even now if we eat healthy, exercise and live the most innocent lives, you can come under attack from this invisible enemy, simply by existing on this planet. What caused this? Of the 200 organic chemicals known to cause breast cancer in animals 203 are manmade and 9 are natural. This stat shows us that we created a toxic environment. Wilhelm Hueper who we learned about in class said The majority of human cancers are traceable to environmental exposures and therefore potentially preventable” “Why did we do this to ourselves? After each World War, numerous military plus industrial practices and technologies have introduced a series of new chemicals into our bodies and damaged the environment we call home. This led to many diseases such as cancer or •Itai itai byō •(ouch ouch sickness) the toxic century is a by-product of rapid industrialization due to war.
Sandra Steingraber wrote the book living downstream about her experiences with cancer and chemicals. In it she details the wars in playing an active role in the toxic century and in her words” changed chemistry and physics forever.” After each world war the need for each country trying to rapidly industrialize in order to beat other countries was so important that common sense was not present. Countries decided to forgo safety checks in order to make sure their products were more effective. As a result, many chemicals such as chorine, DDT (used as an insect repellant in the war) and PCB’s were released in society for commercial use. DDT in particular was linked to cancer and hurt wildlife in the