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Slow Death Book Report

871 Words4 Pages

Introduction
Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie gave important information on how common products and items we use daily, are toxic and dangerous for our health and the environment. Smith and Lourie are environmental advocates in Canada who were inspired through their work with Toxic Nation to test how coming into contact with items that are high in certain chemicals, can increase the levels of that chemical in bodies. An example that I found relatable was microwaving food in plastic containers increases your exposure to BPA and your risk for certain disease such as cancer. This book gives a mixture of historical background on each chemical mention in the book and what Smith or Lourie …show more content…

These chemicals are phthalates, non-stick coating (perfluorochemicals), flame retardants, mercury, triclosan, pesticides, and bisphenol A (BPA). The Introduction gives an overall on how the toxic experiment for Smith and Lourie will go. The experiment will mimic how people interact with everyday items through various activities such as cooking or shopping. To measure the levels of pollution in their bodies, both authors had to go through a blood and urine test before and after exposure. The Conclusion basically summarizes the authors findings and what they learned through their experiment. The other seven chapters I don’t want to spoil but I will discuss more in the analysis portion of my …show more content…

This strikes the question why we even have this chemical in the first place? From the website, Beyond Pesticides, Triclosan was first introduced in health care settings to sterilize hospitals in the 1970’s. With much success, it was added to soap, toothpaste, deodorant and other consumer products. Later studies have found that triclosan cause skin irritation, is an endocrine disruptor, and has a negative impact on the aquatic ecosystem (Triclosan,2010). Needless to say, this was concerning for me and after reading the Smith’s Urine result before and after being exposure to triclosan, I was in shock that something advertised as safe and good for your health was dangerous at even a low

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The Life Of Kennedy “The man with fewer than three and a half years to live has his left hand on the Bible.” Not even a page into this book really gets you to think that everything can change in an instance. I feel that O’Reilly chose those words to stick out to people because time is never promised, tomorrow may never come.

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Ishmael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, and the other boys of Sierra Leone that were enlisted to fight in the country’s civil war had their lives changed forever. The boys in the village of Yele that were recruited by the army aspired to be vengeful spirits, killing the soldiers of the rebel army that had killed their families and was the cause of their misfortune. Lieutenant Jabati and his men helped the boys to realize their suppressed rage and gave them the training that they needed to fight the rebels. Lieutenant Jabati was a figure of authority for the boys in a time of turmoil and he, along with the more senior soldiers under his command, pushed the boy soldiers to their limit, but he was not harsh with his encouragement. It must be said though, that if the boys were not recruited by the Lieutenant

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Throughout A Lesson before Dying, Ernest J. Gaines writes of Grant Wiggins’s two intertwined struggles to escape different powers in his life. Once Grant Wiggins accepts the power of his responsibilities, a larger power looms over him; racism. The book opens with Grant Wiggins recalling a trial, where a young black man, Jefferson, was wrongfully accused of murder. In an attempt to free his client, Jefferson’s lawyer refers to Jefferson as a mindless hog, who could not have known what he was doing. The case was lost, and Jefferson was sentenced to death by the judge.

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Life and Death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides. Wes Moore and Maria Reyes were right along those different sides. Life and Death was written by the authors John Malcom and Candace Jaye, with each telling the different profiles of Wes Moore and Maria Reyes. Life and Death is a Biography in which, John and Candace, the authors, discuss about Wes Moore and Maria Reyes and their life experiences between life and death. Wes Moore grew up in Baltimore and Maria Reyes grew up in Los Angeles, they both had to make a big turn around for their life.

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A Lesson before Dying In the novel A Lesson before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, the author conveys multiple emotions that are presented throughout the book over a period of time. Gaines goes into several details that almost makes the reader believe they are a part of the book themselves. A twisted plot is presented towards the middle of the book, which leaves Jefferson’s future in the hands of others. Ernest J. Gaines was born January 15, 1933, on River Lake Plantation in Oscar, a small town in Pointe Coupee Parish, near New Roads, Louisiana.

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Even at the age of 12 kids can get addicted to these harmful chemicals and ruin their

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416 Words | 2 Pages

BPA is used in everyday life; it’s in canned foods, plastic bottles, and paper. The controversies surrounding this mysterious element are endless, and it’s hard to figure out what the exposure of Bisphenol A can do to not only the human skin, but to the brain of a human. But first, we have to figure out what it does to animals as well. BPA acts like an estrogen, disrupting hormones of any male and female animal on this planet. Not only does it affect the animal’s hormones, it affects its brain as well.

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These chemicals can explode. When I gave my three-year-old son some cheese to eat, I did not know that I was giving him poisoned food. I was too stoned on meth to notice, until twelve hours later, that my son was deathly ill. But then I was so stoned it took me two hours to figure out how to get him to the hospital five miles away. By the time I got to the emergency room my boy was pronounced dead of a lethal dose of ammonia hydroxide—one of the chemicals used to make meth.”

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In today’s world, there are many people creating new chemical substances that has negative effect to our world. Rachel Carson, in her article "The Obligation to Endure" argues that the pesticides and other chemicals we use are harmful to more than just the environment. I agree with Carson in her article, in that we should reduce most of the harmful chemical use and instead use technological inventions. Carson is a person who seems very passionate about the environment and is very concerned of its inhabitants. It is hard to believe that intelligent human beings would use bad chemicals substances that would affect the environment and themselves negatively.

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About 71 percent of our planet Earth is covered by water, and the majority comes from the oceans (about 96.5 percent of all Earth’s water). It remains as the most expansive, diverse, and mysterious places on planet Earth. But it is being threatened by the pollution by people and nature itself. By polluting the habitat of marine organism will indirectly affect the ecosystem of the marine life. Marine life is dying and as the result the oceanic ecosystem is threatened.

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