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Author: Warren B. Crummett
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 9781401069087
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345
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Book Description
By 1971 analytical scientists at Dow had good reason to believe that questions about "dioxin" (2,3,7,8-dibenzo-p-dioxin) had been appropriately addressed. This molecule had been identified as an unwanted trace contaminant in 2,4,5-trichlorophenol and its derivatives; synthesized and analytical standards prepared; characterized by all the known measurement techniques; and controlled in Dow products by newly developed analytical methods of confirmed integrity at levels 10 times lower than deemed necessary by Dow toxicologists. Thus we had not only fulfilled all the requirements of government agencies, we had gone the extra mile. No other product contaminant had been treated so rigorously. There was no doubt that Dow products were safe when used as directed. Once again we had proven that molecules could be successfully managed. Although there was already some noise decrying this conclusion, we were totally unprepared to weather the brouhaha which developed. "Dioxin" appeared to be a molecule that created fear and caused people to do strange (unscientific) things. Was it more than just a molecule? We now turned our attention to measuring the amount of "dioxin" in the environment. We were well prepared to develop methodology to do this. We had state-of-the-art equipment and some of the best chromatographers and mass spectroscopists in the world. We were confident we could find and measure "dioxin" (if present) in any matrix of interest at appropriate detection levels. Then we could determine how the dioxin got there and discover ways to completely control and manage the presence and movement of this molecule in the environment. This was our perception! This perception was reinforced by the merger of Dow analytical laboratories. For the first time powerful measurement tools would be under the same management as the separation systems. This created many opportunities for spectroscopists, chromatographers and instrument development folks to do extraordinary things together. The resulting laboratory, consisting of almost 200 technical people, was managed by a technical director and a technical manager. I was named technical manager, a position without a job description. We were not, however, positioned to communicate effectively with the world outside Dow. Those of us working in trace analysis had neither published much nor attended many scientific meetings outside the company. We had not honed either our writing or speaking skills. So our papers were rejected and we were seldom heard speaking. This took some years to correct as we didn't immediately recognize that we needed to have credibility with our peers in academia, government and other industry. In spite of this naivety on my part, I soon found myself serving on committees, task forces and study groups both within Dow and with government agencies in the United States and Canada. Immediately it became apparent to me that the integrity of analytical data at trace levels was a major problem. Different laboratories used different principles in the interpretation of signals. Consensus on data interpretation needed to be reached. But of even greater importance was the need to communicate with journalists. Each encounter with peers and others interested in "dioxin" became a great adventure filled with fun. Often these meetings were humorous, always challenging, sometimes testy scientists from industry always were portrayed as biased and even incompetent. So, "dioxin" appeared to cause people to do strange things. By means of anecdotal stories and essays this book attempts to convey the principal scientific and philosophical lessons learned, as well as reveal the astonishing behavior of those contributing to the frustration, agony and elation experienced by this industrial analytical chemist. Among the surprising lessons learned are: 1. Fear can create big business. 2. In a "crisis" situation, even
Author: Warren B. Crummett
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 9781401069087
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345
Get Book Here
Book Description
By 1971 analytical scientists at Dow had good reason to believe that questions about "dioxin" (2,3,7,8-dibenzo-p-dioxin) had been appropriately addressed. This molecule had been identified as an unwanted trace contaminant in 2,4,5-trichlorophenol and its derivatives; synthesized and analytical standards prepared; characterized by all the known measurement techniques; and controlled in Dow products by newly developed analytical methods of confirmed integrity at levels 10 times lower than deemed necessary by Dow toxicologists. Thus we had not only fulfilled all the requirements of government agencies, we had gone the extra mile. No other product contaminant had been treated so rigorously. There was no doubt that Dow products were safe when used as directed. Once again we had proven that molecules could be successfully managed. Although there was already some noise decrying this conclusion, we were totally unprepared to weather the brouhaha which developed. "Dioxin" appeared to be a molecule that created fear and caused people to do strange (unscientific) things. Was it more than just a molecule? We now turned our attention to measuring the amount of "dioxin" in the environment. We were well prepared to develop methodology to do this. We had state-of-the-art equipment and some of the best chromatographers and mass spectroscopists in the world. We were confident we could find and measure "dioxin" (if present) in any matrix of interest at appropriate detection levels. Then we could determine how the dioxin got there and discover ways to completely control and manage the presence and movement of this molecule in the environment. This was our perception! This perception was reinforced by the merger of Dow analytical laboratories. For the first time powerful measurement tools would be under the same management as the separation systems. This created many opportunities for spectroscopists, chromatographers and instrument development folks to do extraordinary things together. The resulting laboratory, consisting of almost 200 technical people, was managed by a technical director and a technical manager. I was named technical manager, a position without a job description. We were not, however, positioned to communicate effectively with the world outside Dow. Those of us working in trace analysis had neither published much nor attended many scientific meetings outside the company. We had not honed either our writing or speaking skills. So our papers were rejected and we were seldom heard speaking. This took some years to correct as we didn't immediately recognize that we needed to have credibility with our peers in academia, government and other industry. In spite of this naivety on my part, I soon found myself serving on committees, task forces and study groups both within Dow and with government agencies in the United States and Canada. Immediately it became apparent to me that the integrity of analytical data at trace levels was a major problem. Different laboratories used different principles in the interpretation of signals. Consensus on data interpretation needed to be reached. But of even greater importance was the need to communicate with journalists. Each encounter with peers and others interested in "dioxin" became a great adventure filled with fun. Often these meetings were humorous, always challenging, sometimes testy scientists from industry always were portrayed as biased and even incompetent. So, "dioxin" appeared to cause people to do strange things. By means of anecdotal stories and essays this book attempts to convey the principal scientific and philosophical lessons learned, as well as reveal the astonishing behavior of those contributing to the frustration, agony and elation experienced by this industrial analytical chemist. Among the surprising lessons learned are: 1. Fear can create big business. 2. In a "crisis" situation, even
Author: Committee on Curriculum Development in Environmental Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309568722
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 988
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Book Description
People are increasingly concerned about potential environmental health hazards and often ask their physicians questions such as: "Is the tap water safe to drink?" "Is it safe to live near power lines?" Unfortunately, physicians often lack the information and training related to environmental health risks needed to answer such questions. This book discusses six competency based learning objectives for all medical school students, discusses the relevance of environmental health to specific courses and clerkships, and demonstrates how to integrate environmental health into the curriculum through published case studies, some of which are included in one of the book's three appendices. Also included is a guide on where to obtain additional information for treatment, referral, and follow-up for diseases with possible environmental and/or occupational origins.
Author: Alastair Hay
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1489903399
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 267
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Book Description
The Chemical Scythe is the first book in a projected series to be published by Plenum Press in association with the International Disaster Institute. The aim of the series, Disaster Research in Practice, is to provide scientific and readable accounts on the most urgent areas of disaster research. It is fitting, therefore, that Dr. Hay's investigation into the nature and effects of dioxins heralds the new series. The problem of chemical hazards is one that we will have to learn to live with in future decades. Dr. Hay's book is an authoritative account of the chemistry and proven and potential effects of dioxins, and of the impli cations for safety planning. He concludes with a cautious, yet optimistic note-that indeed we can learn to live with such hazards, providing that we are prepared to understand and plan for the unexpected. The accident at Seveso in 1976 alerted the world to an imperfectly un derstood but immensely alarming environmental hazard. Public debate and argument as to the implications of dioxins and, indeed, the use of herbicides as aggressive weapons in Vietnam, rage on. And yet it is only through the painstaking research exemplified in this book that it will eventually be pos sible to promote the vital accountability on the part of industrialists and governments.
Author: Alvin Lee Young
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387874860
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 353
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Book Description
For almost four decades, controversy has surrounded the tactical use of herbicides in Southeast Asia by the United States military. Few environmental or occupational health issues have received the sustained international attention that has been focused on Agent Orange, the major tactical herbicide deployed in Southern Vietnam. With the opening and establishment of normal relations between the United States and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1995, the time has come for a thorough re-examination of the military use of Agent Orange and other "tactical herbicides" in Southern Vietnam, and the subsequent actions that have been taking place since their use in Vietnam. The United States Department of Defense has had the major role in all military operations involving the use of tactical herbicides, including that of Agent Orange. This included the Department's purchase, shipment and tactical use of herbicides in Vietnam, its role in the disposition of Agent Orange after Vietnam, its role in conducting long-term epidemiological investigations of the men of Operation RANCH HAND, and its sponsorship of ecological and environmental fate studies. This book was commissioned by The Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Installations and Environment) with the intent of providing documentation of the knowledge on the history, use, disposition and environmental fate of Agent Orange and its associated dioxin.
Author: Lois Marie Gibbs
Publisher: South End Press
ISBN: 9780896085251
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 400
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Book Description
'Now everyone has an opportunity to learn about dioxin and the issues surrounding it, in this well-presented, multifaceted book.' Theo Colborn, Senior Program Scientist, World Wildlife Fund (USA)In Dying From Dioxin, Lois Marie Gibbs and other scientists and activists describe the alarming details of the public health crisis surrounding dioxin, and explain how citizens can organize against this toxic threat.
Author: Rebecca Fry
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0128015683
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 285
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Book Description
Systems Biology in Toxicology and Environmental Health uses a systems biological perspective to detail the most recent findings that link environmental exposures to human disease, providing an overview of molecular pathways that are essential for cellular survival after exposure to environmental toxicants, recent findings on gene-environment interactions influencing environmental agent-induced diseases, and the development of computational methods to predict susceptibility to environmental agents. Introductory chapters on molecular and cellular biology, toxicology and computational biology are included as well as an assessment of systems-based tools used to evaluate environmental health risks. Further topics include research on environmental toxicants relevant to human health and disease, various high-throughput technologies and computational methods, along with descriptions of the biological pathways associated with disease and the developmental origins of disease as they relate to environmental contaminants. Systems Biology in Toxicology and Environmental Health is an essential reference for undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers looking for an introduction in the use of systems biology approaches to assess environmental exposures and their impacts on human health. - Provides the first reference of its kind, demonstrating the application of systems biology in environmental health and toxicology - Includes introductions to the diverse fields of molecular and cellular biology, toxicology, and computational biology - Presents a foundation that helps users understand the connections between the environment and health effects, and the biological mechanisms that link them
Author: A. Schecter
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780306447853
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 740
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Book Description
This book originated in a series of cross-disciplinary conversations in the years 1984-1990 between the editor, who is a physician-researcher involved in clinical and laboratory research, and a dioxin toxicologist. During the years in which the conversations took place, an extraordinary amount of new scientific literature was published related to dioxins, defined for purposes of this text as the chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans, polychlorinated biphe nyls (PCB's) and other compounds that are structurally and toxicologically similar to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7 ,8-TCDD), the most extensively studied and most toxic of this group of chemicals. Dioxins also began to interest not only chemists and toxicologists, but also specialists from diverse disciplines such as wildlife and environmental science, immunology, neuroscience,public health, epidemiology, med icine, government, law, sociology, and journalism. Specialists from such varied disciplines, while familiar with their own literature, frequently did not have time to follow the dioxin literature outside their specialty area. In addition, each specialty had unique knowledge, methods, and perspectives. Cross disciplinary conversation was necessary, but all too frequently, specialists from the various disciplines did not speak the same language, resulting in misunderstanding.
Author: Le Ke Son
Publisher: G. Anton Publishing
ISBN: 9780999341308
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 242
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Book Description
During the Vietnam War the U.S. sprayed herbicides over South Vietnam to defoliate forests and destroy food crops. Most of the herbicides were code named Agent Orange and most of the Agent Orange was contaminated with dioxin, a highly toxic substance. Since 1991, scientists at the U.S. Institute of Medicine have shown dioxin to be a risk factor in a growing number of illnesses and birth defects. Their research is corroborated by the work of Vietnamese scientists. In 2007, 32 years after the end of the war, the governments of Vietnam and the United States began to address this war legacy on the ground in Vietnam. In the opening essay, How We Got Here and What¿s Next, Son and Bailey outline the moral reasoning for a fuller American response and present further steps the U.S. and Vietnam can each take in a joint humanitarian initiative to resolve the legacy of Agent Orange/ dioxin in Vietnam. The authors then address the critical issues of whether dioxin pollution still exists in Vietnam, what needs to be done to finish the job of clean up, how many victims of Agent Orange carry out their lives today, does dioxin exposure lead to birth defects, and the impact of Agent Orange on relations between the U.S. and Vietnam.
Author: Kerri Arsenault
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250155959
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 384
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Book Description
Winner of the 2021 Rachel Carson Environmental Book Award Winner of the 2021 Maine Literary Award for Nonfiction Finalist for the 2020 National Book Critics John Leonard Prize for Best First Book Finalist for the 2021 New England Society Book Award Finalist for the 2021 New England Independent Booksellers Association Award A New York Times Editors’ Choice and Chicago Tribune top book for 2020 “Mill Town is the book of a lifetime; a deep-drilling, quick-moving, heartbreaking story. Scathing and tender, it lifts often into poetry, but comes down hard when it must. Through it all runs the river: sluggish, ancient, dangerous, freighted with America’s sins.” —Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland Kerri Arsenault grew up in the small, rural town of Mexico, Maine, where for over 100 years the community orbited around a paper mill that provided jobs for nearly everyone in town, including three generations of her family. Kerri had a happy childhood, but years after she moved away, she realized the price she paid for that childhood. The price everyone paid. The mill, while providing the social and economic cohesion for the community, also contributed to its demise. Mill Town is a book of narrative nonfiction, investigative memoir, and cultural criticism that illuminates the rise and collapse of the working-class, the hazards of loving and leaving home, and the ambiguous nature of toxics and disease with the central question; Who or what are we willing to sacrifice for our own survival?
Author: Committee to Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 9780309075299
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 791
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Book Description
Have U.S. military personnel experienced health problems from being exposed to Agent Orange, its dioxin contaminants, and other herbicides used in Vietnam? This definitive volume summarizes the strength of the evidence associating exposure during Vietnam service with cancer and other health effects and presents conclusions from an expert panel. Veterans and Agent Orange provides a historical review of the issue, examines studies of populations, in addition to Vietnam veterans, environmentally and occupationally exposed to herbicides and dioxin, and discusses problems in study methodology. The core of the book presents What is known about the toxicology of the herbicides used in greatest quantities in Vietnam. What is known about assessing exposure to herbicides and dioxin. What can be determined from the wide range of epidemiological studies conducted by different authorities. What is known about the relationship between exposure to herbicides and dioxin, and cancer, reproductive effects, neurobehavioral disorders, and other health effects. The book describes research areas of continuing concern and offers recommendations for further research on the health effects of Agent Orange exposure among Vietnam veterans. This volume will be critically important to both policymakers and physicians in the federal government, Vietnam veterans and their families, veterans organizations, researchers, and health professionals.
