Jukes says she took inspiration from Sandra Steingraber’s, Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood, which looks at the environmental hazards in pregnancy, and Lucy Cooke’s Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal, which paints a picture of different animals’ sexual identities and sexualities to challenge gender stereotypes.
“I did not learn about the human studies that found that high exposure to forever chemicals was significantly related to early undesired weaning, or not initiating breastfeeding at all – or that they might be present in the makeup I applied to my skin, and the waterproof coating on my raincoat and the stain resistant fabric on my sofa,” she explains in the book.
Mother Animal, a personal account of Jukes’ pregnancy and early years of motherhood, details her growing realisation of how contaminated her body, and her baby, have become.
One investigation found 85 chemical compounds defined as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which are chemicals that interfere with how hormones work, or suspected EDCs in different formula milks and containers, meaning individual low exposure to each substance.
In her latest book, Mother Animal, the writer gives a personal account of the impact of ‘forever chemicals’ on her and her child during and after pregnancy.
