Poison Spring: The Secret History of Pollution and the EPA
*Starred Review* Two outstanding environmental writers team up to tell the excoriating story of catastrophic collusion between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the chemical industry. Vallianatos worked for the EPA from 1979 to 2004 and witnessed the systematic undermining of the agency’s mission to set standards for environmental and health safety by major chemical manufacturers whose ruthless lobbying strategies were as insidious as the ecologically disastrous pesticides they aggressively promoted and brazenly misused. The title of this jaw-dropping exposé is a riff on Rachel Carson’s 1963 landmark protest of the use of DDT, Silent Spring. The carefully documented crimes and betrayals Poison Spring reveals unfold on two fronts. Most alarming are the harrowing facts about the thousands of deadly synthetic chemicals that have for decades been released into the biosphere and which we continually absorb, from dioxin to agrochemical nerve gas to the weed killer Roundup. Vallianatos and Jenkins explain the science behind these poisons and their many dire effects, from cancer to the death of honeybee colonies. Equally appalling is the silencing of heroic EPA whistle-­blowers, fraudulent scientific studies, and the hijacking of the democratic process. In this riveting indictment, Vallianatos and Jenkins valiantly divulge the blinding greed and unfathomable stupidity behind these unconscionable lies and travesties—assaults against the very fabric of life. A resounding call for genuine and sustained environmental responsibility. --Donna Seaman