An Ominous Coincidence

Ironically, during the decades from 1940 to 1980 — when the medical community believed that autoimmune disease was impossible – the United States was simultaneously engaged in the greatest industrial growth spurt of all time. All across America, production plants were starting to spring up in town after town, as corporations ramped up production of thousands of novel products manufactured through efficient new chemical processes. New pesticides were being introduced to boost crop yields, prolong the shelf life of produce, keep lice, fleas, roaches, and termites out of the home, and zap dandelions from the lawn. Ingenious new chemicals were being used to help manufacture everything we Americans wanted to make our lives easier, simpler and more luxurious – from plastics to hair shampoo, detergents, foam cushions, carpeting, cosmetics, paint strippers, dry cleaning fluids, household cleansers and bleaches, and bigger, grander cars. Almost overnight, Americans began to find themselves inundated with and clamoring for the suburban home products, packaged goods, and manufactured foods churned out by mega-industry. Fleets of trucks transported these newly manufactured goods from coast to coast, and the ChemLawn truck began to circle the cul-de-sacs in neighborhood after neighborhood.
But this coincidence in timing – between a medical community not yet educated about a mysterious, growing set of diseases with an unknown set of triggers and a society’s swell in production of everything from SUVs to Teflon pans to furniture and mattresses that have been stuffed with flame-retardant foam – would turn out to be an ominous one.