Dying from Dioxin: A Citizen's Guide to Reclaiming our Health and Rebuilding Democracy
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Author(s): Lois Marie Gibbs (1999)
According to recently released studies from the EPA, widespread exposure to dioxin is destroying the health of the American people. In Dying From Dioxin, Lois Marie Gibbs and other scientists and activists describe the alarming details of this public health crisis, and explain how citizens can organize against this toxic threat.
From Library Journal
Dioxins are highly toxic chemical byproducts of pesticide manufacturing, incineration, and chlorine-based paper milling. Manufacturers, such as the paper industry, recently requested the Environmental Protection Agency to reexamine dioxin data from 1986 in which federal regulations limited dioxin exposure and emissions. As a result, the EPA's Dioxin Reassessment, released in early 1995, verified 1986 data that dioxins are not only carcinogenic but may also cause serious adverse effects on the immune and reproductive systems of humans and wildlife. Within this framework, grass-roots activist Gibbs and the group she cofounded after Love Canal, Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Wastes (CCHW), have compiled this seminal citizen's how-to manual on dioxins and their chemical cousins. The history, politics, exposure pathways, toxicology, and chemistry of dioxin are covered in an easy-to-understand and powerful style. True to CCHW's commitment to environmental justice principles and community empowerment, organizing strategies like a "Dioxin Resolution" are among the aids citizen-activists may use in communicating concern to regulators and industry on dioxin-related issues. Highly recommended for special, public, and academic libraries and to those involved in public policy, citizen activism, and environmental health.
Susan Maret, Univ. of Colorado, Denver
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
