Record Display for the EPA National Library Catalog

RECORD NUMBER: 14 OF 21

Main Title Our children's toxic legacy : how science and law fail to protect us from pesticides /
Author Wargo, John,
Publisher Yale University Press,
Year Published 1998
OCLC Number 39253355
ISBN 0300074468; 9780300074468
Subjects Pesticides--Toxicology ; Pesticides--Law and legislation--United States ; Children--Health risk assessment ; Pesticides--Environmental aspects ; Gesundheitsgefährdung ; Kind ; Lebensmittel ; Lebensmittelrecht ; Pestizidbelastung ; USA ; Gesundheitsgefährdung--(DE-588)4071808-6 ; Kind--(DE-588)4030550-8 ; Lebensmittel--(DE-588)4034870-2 ; Lebensmittelrecht--(DE-588)4034898-2 ; Pestizidbelastung--(DE-588)4173944-9 ; USA--(DE-588)4078704-7
Holdings
Library Call Number Additional Info Location Last
Modified
Checkout
Status
EJBM  RA1270.P4W34 1998 Headquarters Library/Washington,DC 02/09/2001
ELAM  RA1270.P4W34 1998 Region 5 Library/Chicago,IL 05/09/2017
ERAM  RA1270.P4 W34 1998 Region 9 Library/San Francisco,CA 08/31/2009
ESAM  RA1270.P4W34 1998 Region 10 Library/Seattle,WA 09/12/1998
Edition 2nd ed.
Collation xvi, 390 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
Notes
Includes bibliographical references (pages 313-379) and index.
Contents Notes
During this century, hundreds of billions of pounds of pesticides have been released to the global environment. How are we exposed to them? What can we do to protect ourselves? In this extraordinary analysis, John Wargo, one of the nation's leading experts in pesticide policy, traces the history of pesticide law and science, with a focus on the special hazards faced by children. By 1969, nearly 60,000 separate pesticide products were registered for use by the U.S. government, each with the expectation that pesticides could be used safely, that they quickly broke down into harmless substances, or that dangerous levels of exposure could be accurately predicted and somehow avoided. Faith in these assumptions was gradually eroded as experts grew to understand the persistence, movement, and toxicity of the chemicals involved. Nevertheless, government continues to hold the discretion to balance risks against economic benefits in its licensing decisions. The underlying legal strategy, Wargo claims, has been one that places extraordinary faith in government's ability to somehow ensure that only safe levels of contamination and exposure occur. And the effect has been systematic neglect of those exposures and risks faced by children. Wargo presents a compelling case that children are more heavily exposed to some pesticides than adults and are especially vulnerable to some adverse effects. How should the fractured body of environmental law be repaired to manage the distribution of risk? This is the central question Wargo addresses as he suggests fundamental reforms of science and law necessary to understand and contain the health risks faced by children.