Toxic scare mongering mutes hidden truth.

• Position: Public Health

It would seem that present-day Americans are living in constant danger of toxic overload. We routinely hear stories about how our exposure to mercury, PCBs, pesticides, plastics, and other common toxins is behind everything from autism to cancer. Movies such as "Erin Brockovich" stoke fear and outrage, and there is no shortage of products that claim to "detoxify" our bodies. Yet, what often gets lost is the fact that we actually are living in the least toxic time in human history and that there is no evidence that the average American has suffered any ill health effects from the amount of toxins we are exposed to routinely.

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"When we talk about toxins, what we often forget is that the dose is key. Very few Americans are exposed to high enough levels to cause health problems," reveals physician William Meller, an evolutionary medicine specialist and author of Evolution Rx: A Practical Guide to Harnessing Our Innate Capacity for Health and Healing. His book discusses:

The myth of mercury poisoning from fish. A review of fish consumption in the medical journal Lancet reveals that there have been no--zero--cases of human mercury poisoning from eating fish ever reported in the U.S. or Great Britain.

Does the plastic in water bottles cause cancer? If this were...