Having Faith: A Review

Having Faith, by Sandra Steingraber is an amazing book. The entire time I was reading it, I kept asking myself why I hadn't read it already. Published in 2001, it is already slightly outdated, but to me it felt like the modern day Silent Spring.... this is a book that is disturbing, depressing, and inspiring.. a call to action for all of us parents out there. Except, unlike Silent Spring, it doesn't seem like this book motivated much action. I guess in this day and age, folks are sick of hearing about everything that is poisoning us, giving us cancer and slowly killing our planet. I think we have started to feel frustrated that we have no control over our environment and so for most, it is easier to just try not to think about it.
Steingraber is an ecologist who becomes pregnant when she is 40-ish (after winning a battle against cancer in her earlier years). The book documents her journey through pregnancy, as well as her days of nursing her little daughter, but does so from her point of view as an ecologist. She explores the relationships between pesticides and other chemicals that a mother is exposed to and physical or developmental issue that commonly occur in children.
This book really hit home to me, as 2 of the physical issues she speaks of were problems that Finn was born with. The first is un-descended testicles. When Finn was about 8 months old, he had to have surgery to pull one of his testicles, which had not descended, into place. Having Faith talks about the correlation between this problem and the mother's exposure to pesticides during the first few months of pregnancy. Finn was conceived in March (or sometime near March) in Montana, in a small town just west of Missoula, where plenty of land around us was used for farming. The water we drank was groundwater that could easily have been contaminated with pesticides sprayed on the local farms.
The other issue is Finn's teeth. His 4 back molars are missing a lot of their enamel (the enamel is discontinuous around the teeth, which leaves about half of each tooth surface completely vulnerable to decay). Steingraber's book shows an association with this issue (which I had never even heard of before Finn was diagnosed with it) and the mother's exposure to dioxins, which are a by product of industry (PVC manufacturing is one big source).
I can say that this book did make me feel a bit guilty, knowing that these issues that Finn will deal with for his entire life are likely a result of chemicals that I was exposed to before he was even born. But, on the other hand, I only have so much control of my life. I don't spray pesticides (and try not to even eat food grown with pesticides), and I certainly don't produce dioxins (which are a by product of PVC production, among other things).. yet, I am exposed to these chemicals whether I like it or not, just by breathing air and drinking water. But, like Steingraber says, this isn't an issue of mothers not making good decision while pregnant or nursing, but rather an issue of the government not protecting its citizens.
Having Faith also talks about breast milk, the magical-like qualities it has, the perfect balance of nutrients, the antibiotics... in essence, everything a newborn needs. Yet, because of biomagnification through the food chain, breast milk is also one of the most toxic substances known to man. This is something that is wrong at the most very basic level, and something that needs to be changed.
Every time I have nursed little Miss P since reading this book, I have watched her sweet face, and her tiny hands that play with her hair while she nurses, and wonder just how many chemicals I am pumping into her sweet body at that very moment. Something so little and so tiny and so innocent, and yet she is being dosed with poisons. How can we be OK with this?
Having Faith is an amazing book and one that everyone should read (however, I would not recommend reading it while pregnant, because I think it would have stressed me out-- even reading it while nursing was a bit distressing). I just can't figure out why this book didn't cause more of a stir? Why aren't we, as mothers and parents, fighting for the right to have a pregnancy free of chemical exposure? Why aren't we demanding for breast milk that is 100% safe for our babies? So read this book and be inspired. Let's make this world safe for our babes, yes?