Boiling Frogs

Book excerpt: The story goes that if you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, he will jump out and save himself. If you place the same frog in a pot of cool water and slowly bring it to a boil, he will allow himself to be boiled to death. This is exactly what is happening to millions of people around the world. Industry has introduced tens of thousands of chemical compounds into our human environment since World War II. We are the frogs in a vast scientific experiment. In 1992, Intel Corporation tightened its grip on the mesa above the village of Corrales, New Mexico, building its two-billion-dollar flagship plant there. Soon the battle is on between the unholy triad of big money, big business, and politics and a band of "quaint guerillas" that see their peaceful rural lifestyle threatened by the new neighbor on the hill. Touted as a "clean industry," residents soon find out that making computer chips is anything but clean, as tons of toxic chemicals pollute the air they breathe, and their water is pumped out from under them at an alarming rate. Boiling Frogs is a shocking tell-all, a fully documented report of Intel's takeover of New Mexico, and a cautionary tale for anyone who wakes up to find out that a corporate monster has moved in next door.