Calculated Risks: Understanding the Toxicity of Chemicals in our Environment [Paperback]

Joseph V. Rodricks (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521423317 | ISBN-13: 978-0521423311 | Publication Date: January 28, 1994

Public concern regarding environmental pollution and chemicals present in foods, consumer products, and the work place are at an all time high. While there is widespread awareness, confusion still reigns, aggravated by conflicting reports concerning carcinogens in food and drinking water, or about chemicals present in medicines and household products that may cause birth defects. The central purpose of this book is to describe how scientists come to understand the toxic properties of such chemicals and the health risks they may pose. Rather than attempting to expose governmental and corporate ignorance, negligence or corruption, this book explores the underlying scientific issues.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...needs to be read by every medical scientist with any concern for public health issues as well as by environmental and food safety campaigners. It will sharpen debating skills enormously, broaden understanding of risk through chemicals and reveal not a few idiocies. Rodricks tells the scientists, the campaigners and the concerned citizens what they need to know. And they won't even need a dictionary. Dose-response curves, thresholds, environmental epidemiology and drug metabolism are all covered in simple and, at times, humorous terms. Toxicology is delightful--an art as well as science. Rodricks covers both." Simon Wolff, New Scientist

"Rodricks has written a book with a wealth of technical material that is so easy to read and follow, and which will be a gift to the students and fellow professionals he hopes will use it." Alastair Hey, Nature

"...presents a practical and balanced clarification of the scientific basis for our concerns and uncertainties. It should serve to refocus the debate." Biology Digest

"Rather than attempting to expose governmental and corporate ignorance, negligence or corruption, this book explores the underlying scientific issues. It presents a clarification of the scientific basis for our concerns and uncertainties." The Bulletin of Sci., Tech and Soc.

"...the best book we have yet seen on the theory of risk assessment--lucidly written, and evenhanded...If you want to understand the theory of risk assessment from the viewpoint of a successful risk assessor, this is the book for you." Rachel's Hazardous Waste News

"... a well-organized and readable text...The book should be recommended reading for those interested in obtaining an understanding of risk assessment." M.P. Schellenberg, Canadian Field Naturalist

"...provides access to the science and uncertainty behind the oft-quoted risks of toxic chemicals....The reader who completes the book is likely to know much more about the limitations of all assessments of risk." Resha M. Putzrath, BioScience

"It is difficult to praise this book enough. An evenhanded text that emphasizes complexity and reveals the gaps in our knowledge rather than oversimplifying the science of toxicology, Calculated Risks: The Toxicity and Human Health Hazards of Chemicals in Our Environment belongs on the shelves of every environmental organization. Writing in a manner that neither condescends nor baffles his readers, Joseph V. Rodricks has produced a text that if used as a point of departure in discussing siting, pollution, and similar disputes could save time and effort....This book is the basic text we all should read." C. Ian Jackson, Environment

Book Description

Public concern regarding environmental pollution and chemicals present in foods, consumer products, and the work place is at an all time high. The central purpose of this book is to describe how scientists learn to understand the toxic properties of such chemicals and the health risks they may pose.

Product Details

• Paperback: 282 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (January 28, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521423317
• ISBN-13: 978-0521423311
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,224,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good background, but a biased representation., May 3, 2005

By 

Dana (Puget Sound, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Calculated Risks: Understanding the Toxicity of Chemicals in our Environment (Paperback)

I recently read this book for a graduate level class in pesticides. Although this is an accurate and informative (although a little outdated) account of how risk assessment is done in the United States, I feel like the information was presented in a biased way:

(1) Rodricks minimizes the risks posed by introduced chemicals by emphasizing high accute toxicities of naturally occurring chemicals, without directly addressing the relative prevalance of blowfish toxin, for example, and many widely-used introduced chemicals (i.e. if we're less likely to encounter blowfish toxin, it poses less of a risk to us than common lawn pesticides may pose).
(2) Rodricks mentions several assumptions inherent in doing these risk calculations--assumptions which seem at the surface to err on the side of caution-- but doesn't discuss the arbitrary nature of some of these assumptions and the possible error that may result.
(3) Also, he covers the (then) current requirements for chemical approval, but fails to mention the thousands of chemicals that were approved for use before the current testing regulations were put in place. These chemicals are in the process of being tested according to the new standards, but this testing is taking an unexpectedly long time. To what risks are we exposing ourselves and our environment in the meantime?
(4) When it comes to regulation, Rodricks briefly touches on other considerations, such as economics, politics, and public sentiment. He criticizes the public's "emotional" role in regulation, but when armed with the whole picture, legitimate concerns can be raised on the adequacy of the current state of regulation. Since the public is ultimately assuming the risk associated with the use of these chemicals, I believe public concern is a very valid consideration and has lead to great improvements in the past.

Lastly, this book was published before the focus on endocrine disruptors was established. Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that can affect hormone activity in humans and animals (and even plants and bacteria) even when found only in very, very low concentrations. There is mounting evidence supporting this theory, and the EPA is currently establishing standards for testing chemicals for this activity.

That said, I recommend this book for a baseline understanding of chemical risk assessment in the United States, but don't stop here if you want the whole picture.