Over 75,000 commercial and industrial chemicals have been introduced into our environment in just the last 50 years - the bulk of which have not been tested for their effects on human health. We live in a sea of chemicals that are presumed innocent until proven hazardous.

Hundreds of toxic chemicals - many known to cause cancer, birth defects, and disrupt hormonal systems - are on store shelves today. They're in everything from insecticides to cosmetics. They have permeated our water, soil, and food. They can be found in the bodies of people the world over. Are we being sold a bill of goods? Why aren't these products safety tested before being put on the market?

• Kids whose families use pesticides at home are 5 times more likely to develop leukemia or brain cancer.
  
  
• Half of California children attend school within a mile of industrial plants releasing toxic chemicals.
  
  
• Although banned in the U.S. 30 years ago, trace amounts of DDT can still be found in breast milk.
  
  
• Twelve million U.S. kids suffer from developmental, learning, or behavioral disabilities. Studies show that pre-natal exposure to industrial and commercial chemicals can cause such disabilities.
  
  
• Chemicals deemed too dangerous for domestic use are routinely shipped to other countries.
  
  
• 33 toxic waste sites in 18 states will see their Superfund budgets slashed this year.

Yet with decisive action, many deleterious effects of the toxic soup are reversible.

• Taking lead out of gasoline resulted in a 90% decrease in lead poisoning.
  
  
• Five years after banning DDT, the EPA reported a 90% reduction of DDT in Lake Michigan fish.

Does the public have a right to know about potential health hazards of chemicals that they are exposed to at home and at work? What can parents do to protect their children from dangerous chemicals?