The Great American Poisoning
How men are changing public health messaging
Whether its microplastics in our balls, “forever chemicals” in cooking pans, or carcinogenic chemicals in our sunscreen - men are getting worried about toxins.
The fear is especially strong among young fathers. There are endless updates about how common household items are now going to hurt the development of children. To take a few findings from the last three years:
At least 45% of the US’ water supply was determined to have unhealthy levels of PFAS, otherwise known as forever chemicals.
Microplastics are likely in every man’s testicles. Relatedly, synthetic clothing fibers like polyester and nylon shed microplastics in the air and accumulate in our lungs, brain, and liver.
Gas stoves have been ruled carcinogenic due to the chemicals they release
81% of Americans are regularly exposed to glyphosate, which is linked to cancer, infertility, and neurological conditions
What seemed like paranoid conjecture 10 years ago is increasingly a scientific acknowledgment that we’re surrounded by toxins. Millennial men, and especially young fathers, are responding to the threat. In the name of household security, they’re avoiding canned foods, plastic water bottles, receipts, and sea salt - all of which have microplastic, a hormone disruptor.
They’re also loading up on gear. Men are buying stainless steel pans, zinc sunscreen, and heavy duty water filtration units. It’s like Neo outfitting himself in The Matrix, except in the appliances section of Costco.
I find this interesting because men’s sense of security is broadening into domestic health - usually a domain men cede to women. Increasingly, outlets with male audiences like Men’s Journal, Huberman Lab, and Joe Rogan are talking about this stuff. Toxin talk is now firmly in the dude discourse.
“America is the fattest and sickest it has ever been”
The issue is not, of course, just about microplastics or PFAS. In the words of Justin Mares, one of the leaders of the End Chronic Disease campaign: “America is the fattest and sickest it has ever been.”
As Justin Mares puts it in his excellent newsletter chronicling this issue:
For the first time in American history, our life expectancy is trending down
50% of Americans have diabetes or prediabetes (and 25% of kids)
73% of Americans are obese or overweight, (and 45% of kids).
93% of Americans have at least one marker of metabolic dysfunction that signals future chronic disease, and chronic illness is up 200%+ since the 70s.
These stats run counter to a new wave of masculinity that is fitness and health focused. About half of the male-led podcasts in the top 20 regularly talk about health and fitness. The result is men are educating themselves and their families about health in ways we haven’t seen before.
And with education, comes a righteous anger. “The Great American Poisoning” is a term Justin uses that I think encapsulates the sentiment men are feeling today. Regulators have been willfully ignorant. Our communities’ physical welfare is in decline. There is a giant sized space for men to go “what the fuck.”
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Public health, by men for men
This is changing how public health campaigns are being communicated. Men, now more than ever, are speaking up on public health. As a result, these campaigns sound different from public health campaigns of the past - they’re angrier and more direct.
Here’s a Fox News segment about this issue.
The vibe is less “be informed” and more “we are getting fucked.”
Counter that with the vibe of Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign to end childhood obesity. That campaign focused on parent info sessions, updated nutritional standards, healthy food advertising campaigns, and improved fruit and vegetable stocking at “food desert” locations.
To be clear, plenty of women are pissed off about this too. But men tend to feel more permission to get publicly pissed off. And in these situations, it is a wildly useful tool. One of the themes of this newsletter is that big shifts in American policy and culture are generally fueled by anger. I talk more about how war and angry religious revivals have fueled progressive social policy here. As a result, I welcome this shift in public health.
And it’s interesting that Fox News, which skews male and is known for being one of the angrier networks, has done far and away the most extensive coverage on this issue. Tucker Carlson alone has hosted several segments on it.
And it’s bleeding into politics. Rogan’s recent interview with Trump talked about these issues. RFK Jr. wrote a WSJ op-ed that focused on the chronic illness epidemic. Dr. Marty Makary, a gastrointestinal surgeon at Johns Hopkins and the guy who inspired Atul Gawande’s book Checklist Manifesto, just gave this Congressional testimony where he lays into chronic disease in the US and our poisoned food supply.
The issues of toxins and chronic disease is a portal for men to get involved in public health. It’s also an instance where anger is warranted and useful. I hope more media outlets, beyond Fox News, recognize this. It’ll bring more men into the conversation and it will support public health.
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