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Some General Reference Material on Toxins
compiled by Jeff Sutter, Gateway Green Alliance
Bullard, Robert D. Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality (1994: Westview Press) and Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots (1993: South End Press) Bullard develops (with other activists & scholars) the relationships between environmental pollution and racism, carefully describes the movement for environmental justice, & maps out its political strategies.
Cohen, Gary, and John O'Connor, eds. Fighting Toxics: A Manual for Protecting Your Family, Community, and Workplace (1990: National Toxics Campaign/Island Press) Ten chapters cover the toxics crisis, organizing to win, the corporation-oriented political strategy, media campaigns, neighborhood-labor coalitions, federal statutes, and prevention, the "ultimate solution." Includes a 26-page resource guide to background materials and reference books, and workplace and legal contacts.
Hynes, H. Patricia. The Recurring Silent Spring (1989: Pergamon Press) Rachel Carson's 1962 book catalysed the environmental movement and helped lead to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Hynes tells the story of Silent Spring and its reception, and provides an updated critique of pesticide usage, the EPA, and new biotechnologies threatening to create new "silent springs."
Legator, Marvin S., Barbara L. Harper, and Michael J, Scott, eds. The Health Detective's Handbook: A Guide to the Investigation of Environmental Health Hazards by Nonprofessionals (1985: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press) This handbook provides a how-to manual for developing information documenting local health problems and their relationship to a pollution source when local and state authorities won't. Includes 57 pages of useful resources.
Piller, Charles. The Fail-Safe Society: Community Defiance and the End of American Technological Optimism (1991: Univ. of California Press) Piller discusses the issues which arise when citizens challenge, justifiably, the technological risks undertaken and defended by government, corporations, and the scientific establishment.
Schecter, Arnold (Ed.). Dioxins and Health. (1994: Plenum Press) This collection is a state-of-the-science review by some of the leading researchers in the field.
Reich, Michael. Toxic Politics: Responding to Chemical Disasters (1991: Cornell Univ. Press) A comparative political study, this book describes how victims of three disasters, PCB contamination of cooking oil in Japan, PBB contamination of cattle feed in Michigan, and dioxin contamination in Italy, organize to seek political recognition and redress, and how corporate power works against relatively unorganized and powerless citizens.
Szasz, Andrew. EcoPopulism: Toxic Waste and the Movement for Environmental Justice (1994: Univ. of Minnesota Press) Szasz provides a history and defense of the radical anti-toxics movement.