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Title Inevitably toxic : historical perspectives on contamination, exposure and expertise / edited by Brinda Sarathy, Vivien Hamilton and Janet Farrell Brodie
Published Pittsburgh, Pa. : University of Pittsburgh Press, [2018]
©2018

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Description 1 online resource (x, 317 pages) : illustrations
Series Intersections : histories of environment, science, and technology in the anthropocene
Intersections (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Contents Intro; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Part One: Radiation; 1. X-ray Protection in American Hospitals; 2. Contested Knowledge; 3. Crossroads in San Francisco; 4. Born Opaque; Part Two: Industrial Toxins; Making Way for Industrial Waste; 6. Processing the Past into Your Future; 7. Vast, Incredible Damage; 8. Neighborhood Oil Drilling and Environmental Justice in Los Angeles; Part Three: Community, Contestation, Expanding Expertise; 9. Atomic Bomb Survivors, Medical Experts, and the Endlessness of Radiation Illness; 10. On Sovereignty, Deficits, and Dump Fires; Epilogue; Contributors
Summary "Not a day goes by that humans aren't exposed to toxins in our environment--be it at home, in the car, or workplace. But what about those toxic places and items that aren't marked? Why are we warned about some toxic spaces' substances and not others? The essays in Inevitably Toxic consider the exposure of bodies in the United States, Canada and Japan to radiation, industrial waste, and pesticides. Research shows that appeals to uncertainty have led to social inaction even when evidence, e.g. the link between carbon emissions and global warming, stares us in the face. In some cases, influential scientists, engineers and doctors have deliberately "manufactured doubt" and uncertainty but as the essays in this collection show, there is often no deliberate deception. We tend to think that if we can't see contamination and experts deem it safe, then we are okay. Yet, having knowledge about the uncertainty behind expert claims can awaken us from a false sense of security and alert us to decisions and practices that may in fact cause harm."--Amazon.com
Notes Includes index
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed November 5, 2018)
Subject Pollution -- History
Radiation -- History
Factory and trade waste -- History
Pesticides -- Environmental aspects.
Pollutants.
pollutants.
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Infrastructure.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- General.
SCIENCE -- General.
Factory and trade waste
Pesticides -- Environmental aspects
Pollutants
Pollution
Radiation
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
Author Sarathy, Brinda, editor.
Hamilton, Vivien, 1981- editor.
Brodie, Janet Farrell, editor.
ISBN 9780822986232
082298623X