Legally Poisoned: How the Law Puts Us at Risk from Toxicants

Legally Poisoned: How the Law Puts Us at Risk from Toxicants

No detailed description available for "Legally Poisoned". “ Legally Poisoned offers a refreshingly different take on toxic chemicals in our lives… Cranor not only deals with captivating and current issues but also explains how we got into our current situation and more importantly how, given the public and political will, we might get out.” ― Emily Monosson , American Scientist “[An] important new book… Legally Poisoned makes it ever so clear that Americans are at risk of being poisoned and the reason is the postmarket design of the laws that are supposed to protect us from harmful chemicals. The situation is unnecessary, morally repugnant, and economically inefficient. Hopefully this book will help to focus attention why the United States should follow the E.U.’s lead in requiring premarket testing of chemicals.” ― Sidney A. Shapiro , American Journal of Industrial Medicine “Carl Cranor’s new book, Legally Poisoned , provides an important argument for a new, pre-market approach to U.S. regulatory policy for industrial chemicals. While the book is dense in places, it is very clear, and it provides a much-needed synthesis of scientific, ethical, and legal perspectives that few scholars are capable of producing… Cranor has done us a great service by marshaling a host of evidence to show that our current post-market regulatory system for industrial chemicals is ethically bankrupt. He makes a convincing case for a new, pre-market system. However, unless we make aggressive efforts to find safe and appealing alternatives to toxic substances, industry will probably still find creative ways to dilute the effectiveness of a pre-market regulatory scheme. Therefore, one of the most valuable features of Cranor’s pre-market system might be its potential to assist and stimulate creative efforts…to develop safe alternatives that will lessen the financial incentives to market unsafe products. And, even if Cranor’s arguments do not gain political traction, the search for safer alternatives will still be an important strategy to pursue.” ― Kevin C. Elliott , Ethics, Policy, and Environment “For decades great volumes of petrochemical products have been released into the environment without serious regulatory attention, despite signs of health and ecological damage. Carl Cranor’s recent book, Legally Poisoned: How the Law Puts Us at Risk from Toxicants , is a valuable and timely introduction to this challenge. The book outlines human health risks of low doses of chemical toxicants, describes the exposures of greatest concern, and explains the scientific underpinnings of chemicals regulation. It then summarizes recent breakthroughs in scientific research on chemical toxicity. Cranor’s presentation of this work is revelatory, even shocking. It challenges our current tolerance for low-level chemical exposures… Numerous environmental scholars have written on pollution as a violation of justice between generations and also justice across society today. Cranor has done a service in presenting this complex and important issue so accessibly in Legally Poisoned .” ― Mary L. Lyndon , Jurimetrics “[ Legally Poisoned ] raises critical questions regarding our society’s moral and ethical values and our sense of personal responsibility. Growing public awareness and concerns about toxic chemicals have now brought these issues to the forefront of national attention, and we are likely to hear more about such controversies as science continues to advance.” ― Valerie R. Aggerbeck , Law Library Journal “Unnerving… Legally Poisoned is a frightening book. It reminds readers that lead poisons the nervous system and PCBs disrupt the reproductive system and that both have a long half-life, afflicting both humans and the environment decades after lead was banned from gasoline and PCB use was outlawed. The book cites a number of studies on laboratory animals that suggest a link between adult disease and early exposure to ubiquitous chemical substances, including perfluorinated compounds in Scotchgard and non-stick cookware, and bisphenol A, or BPA, a synthetic estrogen that hardens the plastic in water bottles, baby bottles and the liners of cans… Cranor believes a less-risky world is within reach… Legally Poisoned ’s…regulatory message comes through loud and clear.” ― Melinda Burns , Miller-McCune.com “Cranor’s volume explains how and why we all are legally poisoned―and what we can do about it. In a rigorous ethical, scientific, and legal analysis, he details these harms, argues against them, and explains how the legal and regulatory world could be designed to avoid them… Cranor’s book is one of the best contemporary analyses of the ethical, legal, and regulatory harms posed by failed chemical-product testing… Cranor’s book is destined to become a classic. It is a must-read for scholars in philosophy of law, philosophy of epidemiology, practical ethics, and ethics of public health. All policy makers in the legal and regulatory