The unseemly rush to be modern, efficient and effective has been taken as a sign of 'progress' in the technocratic era. Yet to be modern, efficient and effective is more than ever the corporate calling card for industries more concerned with dispensing death than promoting life.

Mankind today is faced by a quite bewildering minefield of toxicity which ever way one turns. Over the years 'we the people' have backed ourselves into an unforgiving corner from which it is increasingly hard to escape.

We have got into this corner by refusing to ditch the naive assumption that government and corporate industry have our best interests at heart – and would never 'knowingly' allow onto the market anything which is inherently harmful.