ABSTRACT

This timely collection of original essays traces the migration of synthetic chemicals from the laboratory to the factory and then into the environment, bodies and communities. Turning our attention to the impact these chemicals have on our ecosystems, human health, social organization and political processes, the contributors break new ground by focusing on the production and distribution of these potentially hazardous agents themselves rather than just detailing their effects.

part 1|23 pages

Environments

chapter 1|22 pages

Troubled Natures

Toxic Pollutants and Japanese Identity in Two Tokyo Communities

chapter 2|26 pages

Indoor Air Pollution

Environmental Inequality Inside

chapter 3|20 pages

Chemical Weapons “Dispersal”?

The Mundane Politics of Air Monitoring

part 2|19 pages

Bodies

chapter 5|20 pages

From Metallic to Sickly

Chemical Waste, Environmental Discourse, and the National Body in Post-Socialist Hungary

chapter 6|19 pages

When a Child Has Cancer

Protecting Children from a Toxic World

part 3|23 pages

Communities

chapter 7|21 pages

Permitting Poison

Public Participation, the Criteria for Action, and Environmental Justice in the Case of Dioxin

chapter 8|21 pages

Chemicals, Cancer, and Prevention:

The Synergy of Synthetic Social Movements

chapter 9|17 pages

Change of State?

The Greening of Chemistry

part 4|17 pages

Nations

chapter 10|15 pages

Sexual Synthetics

Women, Science, and Microbicides

chapter 11|24 pages

Chemicals and Casualties

The Search for Causes of Gulf War Illnesses

chapter 12|17 pages

The Chemistry of Sovietization

Industrial Solvents and Nationalist Reactions in 1960s Lithuania

chapter 13|8 pages

Conclusion

Environmental Security in an Uncertain World