Biocatastrophe: The Legacy of Human Ecology: Toxins, Health Effects, Links, Appendices, and Bibliographies - Paperback

by Ephraim Tinkham (Author)

The third volume of the Phenomenology of Biocatastrophe publication series begins with a discussion of the public safety issues pertaining to biocatastrophe. A review of the chemistry of ecotoxins is followed by a survey of anthropogenic ecotoxins and commentary on their health effects. This last volume also includes links to information sources about environmental issues and contaminants, followed by an extensive series of appendices, which provide a brief introduction to CDC, EPA, FDA, state, and NGO databases and environmental screening programs. Specific topics covered in the appendices range from persistent organic pollutants (POPs), endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), methylmercury, to pharmaceuticals and growth hormones in humans and other biotic media. The appendices also contain information on greenhouse gasses, hydrofracking, and ecotoxins in maternal cord blood. This volume ends with a detailed bibliography exploring the ecology, health effects, human body burdens, history, economics, and politics of the phenomenology of biocatastrophe.

Author Biography

Ephraim Tinkham, the Captain of Engine Company No. 9, became interested in toxic substances as a specialty while a volunteer fireman in the 1960s. Engine Company No. 9 was established in 1970 prior to the first Earth Day activities in Boston. Research on chemical fallout in general and the impact of chlorofluorocarbons on the ozone layer in particular, in combination with the anti-SST Earth Day sit-in at Logan Airport, resulted in Congressional legislation banning the SST in the United States in the late fall of 1970. Forty years of research and publications on anthropogenic radioactivity and chemical fallout followed the Logan Airport Earth Day sit-in.