Overall I did not enjoy the second half of the book as much of the first. The details seemed to be getting repetitive and unnecessary. However, the last chapter made up for this by giving a clear "what you can do" section as well as a call to action.
The only other chapter that stuck out for me was the water chapter. Maybe its because I literally filled up my water bottle from the drinking fountain in Pearson right before reading about all the carcinogens found in everyday drinking water. It's scary to think that something as normal as drinking water, which is a very healthy think to do, has the potential to give you cancer.
I thought it was interesting in the last chapter when she outlined the differences between a patient pamphlet and a genetics textbook. Although she seemed critical of the pamphlets emphasis on behavioral changes you can make to lower risks of cancer, this does make sense. The pamphlet would not be as helpful saying that you are screwed no matter what. As a patient of cancer you do want to feel empowered and feel like there is something you can do. However, I do agree that this does ignore the huge issue of carcinogens in the environment being a bigger problem than just not smoking or drinking (at least I have that going for me.)
There did come a point in this book that I resigned to the feeling that no matter what I did as a consumer, I would be exposed to carcinogens. This is why I liked the call to policy change in the last chapter. People are unknowingly and unwillingly being exposed. I liked that Steingraber calls this a human rights issue and points our the eco-racism.
Steingraber echoes the same thoughts we've had all semester about the fact that science always has uncertainty, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't act. She also talks about the precautionary approach, where chemicals are guilty until proven safe. Although I like this idea in theory, it may be difficult to implement in practice, but this is a step in the right direction compared to the copious amounts of chemicals being dumped in our environment.
