I am an American who has had the honour and privilege of living in New Zealand for the last few years and this is where I hope to live out the rest of my life. In addition to the astounding beauty of New Zealand, I have found nearly everyone I have met and gotten to know to be extremely genuine, kind, helpful, and usually pretty happy. Even light acquaintances have been warm and friendly. I’ve also seen a fairly widespread health consciousness and care for the environment here.

While I may be a bit soured about the U.S. regarding much of the political messes, the abysmal lack of gun control, the terrifying mass shootings, mass farming practices, environmental pollutants, and more, I have other reasons to be critical of America which are more to the point of this book.

We have reached an age of abundant chemicals which are well-marketed into the minds of people as being revolutionary, more effective and making life easier and better in so many ways. From easy oven cleaning to waterproof mascara – “life is so much better with these innovative products.”

However, look past the marketing gimmicks and camouflage and you will discover that we are being barraged with toxic chemicals in our food and produce, our water, our soaps and shampoos, perfumes and cosmetics, sun screens, dental hygiene and other personal care products, detergents and cleaning products, air fresheners and more. The average person in a civilized world is exposed to literally dozens of these chemicals every day, sometimes hundreds, some of which are quite toxic.

Living here in New Zealand, I see an abundance of these toxic products being imported from the U.S., which now stock the shelves of New Zealand’s grocery stores and shops. The kind-hearted people of New Zealand are unsuspectingly welcoming many of these products into their homes. I believe this is largely due to the deceitful marketing that accompanies these products and the kind, unsuspecting nature of New Zealanders.

I must admit, I do kind of miss the days when I was blissfully ignorant of what was going on – and I was oblivious for most of my life… until I got quite ill. The thing about toxic exposure is that it usually has little to no immediate or obvious effects. It’s the build-up of toxins in our bodies over a longer period, that can make one quite sick or even literally kill you.