Courtney's Reviews > To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Making Us Sick--and How We Can Fight Back

The entry point for this book is the flight attendant uniforms poisoning employees, and Wicker pairs that well with historical examples of dye/chemical poisoning (hatter mercury poisoning, Scheele's Green, etc.). I know some people might come to this from the crunchy granola camp, but it doesn't read like crunchy granola - it reads like something that sets the scene for Erin Brockovich 2. This hit a nice spot for my ADHD brain for hyperfixation (I previously had hyperfixations on Scheele's Green) and it's a very quick, relatively easy read. Wicker is straightforward and has a good mix of historical & contemporary case studies, as well as scientific explanations.
At the end of the book she does provide some advice for how to shop "smarter", but I really appreciate how blunt she is that being able to do so includes a lot of privilege. I like that the onus is on "we need to legislate, ban, and test our way out of the problem, not put the responsibility on consumers." There is a lot of privilege around these issues, and she highlights that people of color are often the most at risk for a variety of reasons. It was refreshing to see the problem addressed in a relatively scientific way that recognizes privilege, disparities among communities, and calls for systemic change starting at the top, not shaming individual consumers.