When I received my copy of Exposed by Mark Schaprio in the mail, I thought I was going to be reading a laundry list of dangerous yet everyday chemicals that degrade the human experience. As the old saying goes,” close, but no cigar.”

Not only did I learn about the widely untested yet ubiquitous chemicals we encounter daily, I also learned about the utter impotence of the United States government to take a concern for its citizens – something that won’t come as a surprise to most of you.

Mark Schaprio, author of Exposed, is Editorial Director at San Francisco-based Center for Investigative Reporting. Having written extensively about foreign affairs, his first book is a perfect mix of environmental concern and political actions (or inaction, as it were in the U.S.).

“The European Union is asserting new priorities that are far more protective of citizens’ health and the environment than those in the United States and they have the economic muscle to back it up,” writes Mark in the book’s first chapter. “The EU has been demanding that its industry take responsibility for the collateral health damages caused by its products, and it has done so with innovations that are leading the world.”

Covering the questionable chemicals found in beauty products, sex toys, home furniture and more, Exposed not only explains how those unstable ingredients became commonplace, but also what countries are taking action against them (hint: it’s not the U.S.). There is a clear difference between the U.S. and EU views on consumer safety – it is a matter of innocent until proven guilty versus guilty until proven innocent.

I’ve never been an overtly political person, but after reading Exposed, I have become considerably more proactive in upholding the concept that it is the government’s job to help protect the personal safety of all its citizens. “American citizens are being put in a position that would have been unimaginable a decade ago; in some instances a dumping ground for goods not wanted elsewhere in the world, in other instances the accidental beneficiaries of protective standards created by another government over which they have no influence,” says Mark in the book’s final chapter. “The United States is no longer where it likes to imagine itself to be, at the center of a universe around which the rest of the world resolves.”

The United States is not the center of the universe - what a concept! It is about time that the U.S. government realized it is being surpassed and the entire country is suffering. Exposed is one of the best books that I have read in many years – I recommend it to anyone and everyone, whether politically/environmentally inclined or not. This is an intelligent, eye-opening, crowd-rustling book that should be required in schools.

For those that will be at the San Francisco Green Festival next month (I’ll be there), Exposed author Mark Shapiro will be speaking at 4pm on November 15th.