Banned : A History of Pesticides and the Science of Toxicology / Frederick Rowe Davis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Davis, Frederick Rowe, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pesticides--Toxicology.

Pesticides.

Pesticides--Environmental aspects.

Pesticides--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [2014]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Silent Spring catalyzed an environmental movement in the 1960s and achieved a ban on DDT, but are the alternatives any less toxic? Rachel Carson's eloquent book Silent Spring stands as one of the most important books of the twentieth century and inspired important and long-lasting changes in environmental science and government policy. Frederick Rowe Davis thoughtfully sets Carson's study in the context of the twentieth century, reconsiders her achievement, and analyzes its legacy in light of toxic chemical use and regulation today. Davis examines the history of pesticide development alongside the evolution of the science of toxicology and tracks legislation governing exposure to chemicals across the twentieth century. He affirms the brilliance of Carson's careful scientific interpretations drawing on data from university and government toxicologists. Although Silent Spring instigated legislation that successfully terminated DDT use, other warnings were ignored. Ironically, we replaced one poison with even more toxic ones. Davis concludes that we urgently need new thinking about how we evaluate and regulate pesticides in accounting for their ecological and human toll.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

Chapter 1. Toxicology Emerges in Public Health Crises

Chapter 2. DDT and Environmental Toxicology

Chapter 3. The University of Chicago Toxicity Laboratory

Chapter 4. The Toxicity of Organophosphate Chemicals

Chapter 5. What's the Risk? Legislators and Scientists Evaluate Pesticides

Chapter 6. Rereading Silent Spring

Chapter 7. Pesticides and Toxicology after the DDT Ban

Chapter 8. Roads Taken

Epilogue: Risk, Benefit, and Uncertainty

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 06. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780300210378

030021037X

OCLC:

894507011