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Our Stolen Future: “From Silent Spring to Scientific Revolution”
John Peterson Myers, Environmental Health Sciences*
Now four decades since publication of Silent Spring, new scientific findings are revolutionizing our understanding of the links between chemical contamination and health. Low level exposures, until recently dismissed as "background" and therefore irrelevant, now clearly matter. Long-recognized links to cancer have been strengthened, and the range of other health effects involved has broadened substantially to include impacts on reproduction, immune system function, and neurocognitive development. Exposure early in development contributes to the risk of diseases and disabilities that do not emerge until decades later. But even as science gallops forward with these new discoveries, the current framework for protecting public health remains mired in old, outdated approaches.
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