Toxin Toxout - by Bruce Lourie & Rick Smith (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

How do I get this stuff out of me?

Bruce Lourie and Rick Smith, two of North America's environmental leaders, have been asked this question on an almost daily basis since the publication of their runaway international bestseller, Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects our Health. Their answer? It's not as simple as we'd like, and it's not as easy as we'd hope. But it's too important to ignore.

In Toxin Toxout, Lourie and Smith give practical and often surprising advice for removing toxic chemicals from our bodies and homes. There are over 80,000 synthetic chemicals in commerce today, and the authors use their outrageous experiments (they and their brave volunteers are the guinea pigs) to prove how easily our bodies absorb these chemicals. With trademark humor, they give us the good news about what is in our control, the steps we can take to help our bodies remove our toxic burden -- and what we can do to avoid it in the first place. Furthermore, Lourie and Smith investigate the truth behind organic foods, which detox methods actually work, if indoor air quality is improving, how we dispose of waste (where do those chemicals go?), and the ins and outs of a greener economy. The result is nothing short of a prescription for a healthier life.

Review Quotes

"Scrupulously researched and sourced with thorough chapter notes, Toxin Toxout is remarkable both for its content and appealing narrative voice. Simply put, this is a book no one in the industrialized world has the luxury of ignoring." --Booklist, starred review

"A useful warning against embarking on detoxification without medical supervision." --Kirkus

"We all owe a debt of gratitude to Bruce Lourie and Rick Smith for slowly poisoning themselves for our benefit. And perhaps even more, for figuring out how to unpoison themselves. This is a fascinating book that has made me change my daily routines." --A.J. Jacobs, New York Times bestselling author of Drop Dead Healthy, My Life as an Experiment and The Know-It-All

"Ruthlessly probing and logical, Bruce Lourie and Rick Smith take the reader on a whirlwind tour of the myriad toxins that we encounter in cosmetics, water, paints, electromagnetic devices--all the things that cross our paths as we just live our lives. If you've ever wondered whether the shampoo you use might contribute to cancer risk, or whether there was any merit to all those 'detox' program ads you see, then this book will help you understand the real story. These authors have created a truly indispensable and enlightening guide to living in the twenty-first century." --William Davis, MD, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health and The Wheat Belly Cookbook

"Toxin Toxout admirably demonstrates how important our everyday product choices are--from the food we buy to the cars we choose to drive. I truly believe that you cannot achieve hormonal balance without reducing your toxin exposure and improving your internal detoxification systems. Toxin Toxout provides us with a much-needed guide on how to live--and maintain--a toxin-free lifestyle." --Dr. Natasha Turner, author of The Hormone Diet and The Supercharged Hormone Diet

About the Author

BRUCE LOURIE is a leading environmental thinker, writer and speaker. He is President of the Ivey Foundation and is a director of several organizations in Canada and the United States. RICK SMITH is a prominent Canadian author and environmentalist. He is executive director of the Broadbent Institute and was the executive director of Environmental Defence for almost 10 years.
They both live in Toronto.