Arturo Riojas

Arturo Riojas, a second-generation native-born Texan, grew up in San Antonio in a loving family of Mexican and Italian heritage. After graduating from high school, he ventured off to California to continue his education. Dr. Riojas holds four degrees--three from Stanford University (chemical engineering and civil engineering with specialization in environmental) and one from the University of Texas at Austin (civil engineering with specialization in environmental). His professional career spans over 35 years in industrial, consulting, and academic settings. He has extensive experience with U.S. military environmental projects and has worked on water and wastewater projects in Venezuela, Honduras, Mexico, Central Europe, and the Republic of Korea. He has also taught graduate- and undergraduate-level classes at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

He wanted to share his understanding of cadmium poisoning—what he believes was responsible for many deaths in his family and is currently causing widespread pain and suffering in our society—but almost no one wanted to listen. He decided to disseminate information in the form of a book that would entertain as well as enlighten readers, and “Heaven and Earth” is the result.

In the format of a science-fiction "aliens-from-another-planet" novel, "Heaven and Earth" identifies and discusses cadmium poisoning—a health issue that goes unnoticed by the medical community, which focuses on diagnosing symptoms (e.g., type-2 diabetes, kidney failure, and various forms of cancer) rather than identifying the underlying cause. The book also questions whether several U.S. government agencies fulfill their charge of protecting the general population of our country.