Customer Reviews

Calculated Risks: Understanding the Toxicity of Chemicals in our Environment

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 Although this is an accurate and informative (although a little outdated) account of how risk assessment is done in the United States, I feel like the information was presented in a biased way: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