Chemical Alert!: A Community Action Handbook

Published by University of Texas Press 1993

Chemical Alert!

A Community Action Handbook

Edited by: Marvin S. Legator and Sabrina F. Strawn

https://doi.org/10.7560/746756

Overview
Contents

About this book

In the 1978 Love Canal toxic waste crisis, concerned citizens "did a far better job of evaluating the health of the community than did the professionals of the New York Health Department," asserts Marvin Legator. In Chemical Alert! A Community Action Handbook, he and coeditor Sabrina Strawn offer a step-by-step guide that can be used by any lay person or citizens' group to determine whether a health risk exists in their area.

Writing for the general reader with no scientific expertise, environmental, medical, and legal professionals instruct communities on the organizational and investigative techniques that will produce a valid, scientific case study. With these tools, citizens living near petrochemical plants or waste disposal areas—or who may have simply noticed a high incidence of certain health problems in their community—can determine for themselves whether a problem really exists and seek remediation. Given the reality that government agencies often lack the resources—or the will—to detect health hazards before they affect a community, an informed citizenry should be its own best environmental watchdog.

Author / Editor information

Marvin Legator was Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
FIGURES Publicly Available Download PDF	vi
TABLES Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Marvin S. Legator, Sabrina F. Strawn and Barbara L. Harper Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
1 You Can Do It Too. Identification of Health Hazards by Nonprofessionals Marvin S. Legator Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 Join Together. Organizing Your Community Lois Marie Gibbs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	7
3 Do You Suspect a Problem? Known Exposures, Known Effects Barbara L. Harper Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
4 What Are Appropriate Tests? Enhancing Health Care Marvin S. Legator Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	58
5 What You Need to Know before You Start. Introduction to Experimental Design Michael J. Scott Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
6 What Information Do You Need? Questionnaire Design, Administration, and Limitations Barbara L. Harper and Mary C. Lowery Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
7 How to Get the Information . The Questionnaire, Question Discussion, and Tabulation Barbara L. Harper, Mary C. Lowery, Michael J. Scott and Paul Mills Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
8 Lots of Information. What to Do with It, Statistics for Nonstatisticians Michael J. Scott and Barbara L. Harper Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
9 Where Do You Go from Here? Exploring Options for Further Study and Further Action Ellen K. Silbergeld Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	158
10 What Kind of Evidence Do You Need? Legal Implications of Acute and Chronic Effects William E. Townsley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	166
11 Resource Guide Sabrina F. Strawn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
Appendix: Rates of Cancer and Birth Defects Barbara L. Harper Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
References Cited in the Text and Additional Suggested Reading Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 254

eBook

Published: June 9, 2014
ISBN: 9780292767119