Book Review

I’m starting to write about the war of ideologies between the “precautionary principle” and “sound science” and I’ve settled on the regulatory history of vinyl chloride as a good case study. I found a useful history of vinyl chloride in “Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution”, by Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner, published by the University of California Press in 2002. Focusing on products made from lead and vinyl chloride, the theme of the book is how U.S. industries attempted to conceal information about adverse health effects from the public and workers, and obstruct or influence actions by the federal government to regulate exposures to those two substances. It’s pretty clear that they line up on the side of labor and citizen activists on this issue, but the book is free of the outrage and anger that typically permeates environmentalist literature. I’ve only read the chapters dealing with vinyl chloride so far, and have found those to be a well-written and carefully documented overview of the topic. It’s going to be a good resource and I am fortunate to live near a good public library that had a copy on hand.