Each year, 22 billion pounds of toxic chemicals are spewed into our air, water, and soil. Toxic Nation describes the devastating effects of these chemicals on the lives of people in dozens of communities across North America. Written by two seasoned journalists, it brings us into the heart of "toxic America." From Lowell, Massachusetts, to Yukon, Pennsylvania, Yellow Creek, Kentucky, to McFarland, California, Toxic Nation is a personal narrative of the people who have been hardest hit by chemical contamination. People who have managed to fight back, by any means they can, to save their families and their communities. Ultimately, this book is not just about poisoned lives, it deals with how our nation contends with its most fundamental problems. Toxic Nation is about the people who have faced the health effects of hazardous wastes head-on, and the democratic uprising engendered by that confrontation (from book jacket).