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Poisoning Our Children: The Parent's Guide to the Myths of Safe Pesticides Book Review & Giveaway

Parents are faced with tough choices every day--and we try to make them based on the best information available to us.  I worked in environmental engineering for a number of years--and have seen my own views on organic farming, chemical additives and pesticide usage change significantly over those years.  I recently had the opportunity to read and review Poisoning Our Children:  The Parent's Guide to the Myths of Safe Pesticides by Andre Leu.  What are my thoughts on this book?


Book Title: Poisoning Our Children: The Parent's Guide to the Myths of Safe Pesticides
Author: André Leu
Category: Adult Non-Fiction, 206 pages
Genre: Educational / Parenting / Nature - Science

About the Book

Parenting was never easy. While loving, teaching and nourishing children, parents also seek to protect them from harm. The past few generations, however, have been silently attacked by thousands of manmade, poisonous chemicals carried into homes and children's bodies in our food supply. The chemical-based conventional agriculture industry claims that the synthesized concoctions they sell as pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides are safe when used as directed, but does the scientific evidence truly support their assertions?

When pesticide residues are found in 77 percent of all foods in the United States, it's important to know the truth. Organic agriculturist André Leu has weeded through a wealth of respected scientific journals to present peer-reviewed evidence proving that the claims of chemical companies and pesticide regulators are not all they seem.


My Review

Poisoning Our Children Breaks Down the Science Behind the Myths of Pesticide Safety.  Readers will find a book that is written with a lot of very heavy scientific data, research and resources related to the health and safety risks and concerns of chemicals and pesticide exposures on humans from our food.  While the book contains a lot of data--its information is actually presented in a fairly easy to read, easy to understand manner.  For parents with little science experience, some of the chemical compounds and research data may seem daunting--but, the author does a very thorough study as he guides readers through the various "myths" addressed in this book.

Leu Offers Readers a lot to Consider in his Concise Format.  The author devotes full sections to discussing the fallacies and risks of common, problematic "myths" related to the regulatory acceptance of chemicals and pesticide usage.  Within each section, he dissects  each "myth" very systematically.   Readers will learn about chemicals, regulations, health risks, and even independent scientific research related to the myths.    While Leu supports organic farming as an industry--this book is more concerned with teaching us to question our current understanding of the regulations, the science and the food safety "industry" believed to "protect" our health. 

Would I recommend Poisoning Our Children:  The Parent's Guide to the Myths of Safe Pesticides?  I believe that the author has created a very well organized, well documented resource for those concerned with the science behind our food safety.  This isn't a light read--but, I think it's a well written, important look at some of the "facts" that we (as adults and parents) have simply taken for granted over the past several decades of scientific advancements.    If you are truly interested in looking a little deeper into the health and safety risks posed to us (especially to developing children) by chemicals in and around our food sources--this book offers in-depth looks at some complex situations and presents them in very eye-opening, easy to understand terms. 

As parents, we try to base our decisions on the best available resources presented to us.  This book reminds you that you may need to seek out resources not readily available sometimes.  As a scientist, I appreciated some of the specific scientific examples provided in this book.  As a mom, I appreciated that the author teaches us that we owe it to our children (and future generations) to fact check safety claims and consider much more than simple words at face value.  

Buy the Book

Watch André Leu discuss a better way to grow our food:



About the Author


André Leu is a longtime organic farmer in Australia and a director of Regeneration International. He served as president of IFOAM Organics International from 2011 to 2017. He speaks widely and regularly testifies to governments and NGOs worldwide on pesticide safety and policy. He is the author of the award-winning book, The Myths of Safe Pesticides.

Connect with the publisher: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Author's Twitter


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