Paediatrician Michelle Perro and medical anthropologist Vincanne Adams will talk on how industrial food is implicated in the rising tide of ill health in children

We live in a toxic world and children feel the impacts more than others. This is why Beyond GM is delighted to be co-hosting a special event in London on 24 May, for the UK launch of the book What’s Making Our Children Sick? How Industrial Food Is Causing an Epidemic of Chronic Illness, and What Parents (and their Doctors) Can Do About It (Chelsea Green, 2018).

Using patient accounts of their clinical experiences and new medical insights about the origins of chronic paediatric disorders – and in particular looking at gut dysfunction – the authors, paediatrician Michelle Perro and medical anthropologist Vincanne Adams, present a convincing argument for how industrial food production – including pesticides and GMOs – are combining with other environmental factors to create a ‘perfect storm’ of health problems in kids.

The data on rising levels of ill health amongst US children make stark reading and it would be comforting to think that this problem of industrial food is not something we have to worry about in the UK.

However, as Beyond GM's leaflet, Kids in the UK – A Picture of Health?, produced specially for the book launch, shows British children are not thriving either. Their diets – half of which consist of “ultra-processed” foods, and much of which contain multiple pesticide residues – may be a contributing factor.

The authors talk more about their work in this article. The event, at beautiful OmVed Gardens in Highgate, has been supported by the Sheepdrove Trust. Tickets are free, as are the evening’s refreshments and materials, but booking via this link is essential as places are limited.

Source: Beyond GM