I know the human being and the fish can coexist peacefully

You name it, we've killed it, deformed it, destroyed it, or contaminated it... from insects to people, from well-water to oceans, from soil to the atmosphere, from our bodies to those of generations to come.

When I was a child my schoolyard and backyard were sprayed with DDT, my feet were x-rayed with unregulated equipment each time I got a new pair of Tom Mccann shoes, the steel mills spewed their orange-black clouds over my city, the government tested atomic bombs while children marched outside in school bands. In 1969 the Cuyahoga River in my hometown of Cleveland caught on fire. When I was a young mother-to-be in Detroit PCB's contaminated our milk even as the milk nourished the embryo that would become my daughter. My spouse carried home chemicals from work on his clothing that he passed on to his children with every embrace.

Nothing has improved in the 21st century. Now they tell us we are endangered by factory waste, animal waste, plastic, food additives, pesticides, teflon, flame retardants, stain repellants, cigarette smoke, lead, asbestos, mercury, aluminum, fragrances, cell phones and even baby bottles... and there's ozone depletion, agent orange and nuclear waste.

Last year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data on 148 substances, from DDT and other pesticides to metals, PCBs, and plastic ingredients, measured in the blood and urine of several thousand people. What does it mean? Apparently no one knows... or cares. Each year the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reviews an average of 1,700 new compounds that industry is seeking to introduce. Only a quarter of the 82,000 chemicals in use in the U.S. have even been tested for toxicity.