The Chemical Scythe is the first book in a projected series to be published by Plenum Press in association with the International Disaster Institute. The aim of the series, Disaster Research in Practice, is to provide scientific and readable accounts on the most urgent areas of disaster research. It is fitting, therefore, that Dr. Hay's investigation into the nature and effects of dioxins heralds the new series. The problem of chemical hazards is one that we will have to learn to live with in future decades. Dr. Hay's book is an authoritative account of the chemistry and proven and potential effects of dioxins, and of the impli cations for safety planning. He concludes with a cautious, yet optimistic note-that indeed we can learn to live with such hazards, providing that we are prepared to understand and plan for the unexpected. The accident at Seveso in 1976 alerted the world to an imperfectly un derstood but immensely alarming environmental hazard. Public debate and argument as to the implications of dioxins and, indeed, the use of herbicides as aggressive weapons in Vietnam, rage on. And yet it is only through the painstaking research exemplified in this book that it will eventually be pos sible to promote the vital accountability on the part of industrialists and governments."

What they didn't want you to know

"We all watched in shock and disbelief when "Challenger "was lost. Probably no one felt more disappointment and regret than Allan McDonald, who had warned us not to launch that day. His story tells of loss, grief, and the eventual rebuilding and recovery."--Robert "Hoot" Gibson, former Space Shuttle pilot and commander

"A major contribution to a difficult episode in the history of human spaceflight."--Roger D. Launius, Division of Space History, Smithsonian Institution

"McDonald tells the heartbreaking tale of how he saw his words of warning ignored, and the fateful consequences of that decision."--Donald C. Elder III, Eastern New Mexico University

On a cold January morning in 1986, NASA launched the Space Shuttle "Challenger," despite warnings against doing so by many individuals, including Allan McDonald. The fiery destruction of "Challenger" on live television moments after launch remains an indelible image in the nation's collective memory.

In "Truth, Lies, and O-Rings," McDonald, a skilled engineer and executive, relives the tragedy from where he stood at Launch Control Center. As he fought to draw attention to the real reasons behind the disaster, he was the only one targeted for retribution by both NASA and his employer, Morton Thiokol, Inc., makers of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters. In this whistle-blowing yet rigorous and fair-minded book, McDonald, with the assistance of internationally distinguished aerospace historian James R. Hansen, addresses "all" of the factors that led to the accident, some of which were never included in NASA's Failure Team report submitted to the Presidential Commission.

"Truth, Lies, and O-Rings" is the first look at the "Challenger" tragedy and its aftermath from someone who was on the inside, recognized the potential disaster, and tried to prevent it. It also addresses the early warnings of very severe debris issues from the first two post-"Challenger" flights, which ultimately resulted in the loss of "Columbia" some fifteen years later.

The United States Department of Justice reports that one million violent crimes occur in the workplace annually, and case law and Occupational Safety and Health Act regulations hold employers liable. This book brings together the professional expertise, valuable insights, and practical advice that safety and health professionals need to identify why workplace violence occurs and how to control it. The first of its kind to examine workplace violence from a safety and health professional's perspective, Violence in the Workplace contains the author's extensive medical and epidemiological knowledge of the subject as well as contributions from a wide variety of professionals in the fields of law, medicine, security, training, psychiatry, public health, and risk management.

A lively, deeply reported tour of the science and strategies helping athletes like Tom Brady, Serena Williams, Carli Lloyd, and LeBron James redefine the notion of "peak age." Season after season, today's sports superstars seem to defy the limits of physical aging that inevitably sideline their competitors. How much of the difference is genetic destiny and how much can be attributed to better training, medicine, and technology? Is athletic longevity a skill that can be taught or a mental discipline that can be mastered? Can career-ending injuries be predicted and avoided? Journalist Jeff Bercovici spent extensive time with professional and Olympic athletes, coaches, and doctors to find the answers to these questions. His quest led him to training camps, tournaments, hospitals, antiaging clinics, and Silicon Valley startups, where he tried cutting-edge treatments and technologies firsthand and investigated the realities behind health fads like alkaline diets, high-intensity interval training, and cryotherapy. Through fascinating profiles and first-person anecdotes, Bercovici illuminates the science and strategies extending the careers of elite older athletes, uncovers the latest advances in fields from nutrition to brain science to virtual reality, and offers empowering insights about how the rest of us can find peak performance at any age.

While many transnational histories of the nuclear arms race have been written, Kate Brown provides the first definitive account of the great plutonium disasters of the United States and the Soviet Union. In Plutopia, Brown draws on official records and dozens of interviews to tell the extraordinary stories of Richland, Washington and Ozersk, Russia-the first two cities in the world to produce plutonium. To contain secrets, American and Soviet leaders created plutopias--communities of nuclear families living in highly-subsidized, limited-access atomic cities. Fully employed and medically monitored, the residents of Richland and Ozersk enjoyed all the pleasures of consumer society, while nearby, migrants, prisoners, and soldiers were banned from plutopia--they lived in temporary "staging grounds" and often performed the most dangerous work at the plant. Brown shows that the plants' segregation of permanent and temporary workers and of nuclear and non-nuclear zones created a bubble of immunity, where dumps and accidents were glossed over and plant managers freely embezzled and polluted. In four decades, the Hanford plant near Richland and the Maiak plant near Ozersk each issued at least 200 million curies of radioactive isotopes into the surrounding environment--equaling four Chernobyls--laying waste to hundreds of square miles and contaminating rivers, fields, forests, and food supplies. Because of the decades of secrecy, downwind and downriver neighbors of the plutonium plants had difficulty proving what they suspected, that the rash of illnesses, cancers, and birth defects in their communities were caused by the plants' radioactive emissions. Plutopia was successful because in its zoned-off isolation it appeared to deliver the promises of the American dream and Soviet communism; in reality, it concealed disasters that remain highly unstable and threatening today. An untold and profoundly important piece of Cold War history, Plutopia invites readers to consider the nuclear footprint left by the arms race and the enormous price of paying for it.

More than 90% of road traffic deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. As most countries in the Western Pacific Region experience economic growth and motorization, road traffic injuries are expected to increase in the future.According to this report, about half of those killed on the roads are "vulnerable" road users, i.e., pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists. This proportion is even higher in low- and middle-income countries. Road safety should therefore be taken into consideration in the planning of land use and transportation. Safer vehicles and roads, infrastructure which protects pedestrians and cyclists, adequate public transportation and enforcement of safety laws would reduce injuries. This report draws attention to the needs of all road users including the most vulnerable groups and assesses the road situation in Members States in the Region.

AN IN-DEPTH GUIDE TO PREPARE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY FOR A WIDESPREAD OUTBREAK OF ANY DEADLY DISEASE Every year pandemics strike! And they can easily spread all over the world--overwhelming doctors and hospitals. Will you be ready when a deadly epidemic hits your town? Prepping for a Pandemic provides the vital information and life-saving steps needed before and after an outbreak, including: *Outbreak Warning Signs *Initial Symptoms *Ease of Transmission *Quarantine Protocol *First Aid Skills *Medical Treatment *Future Threats *Home Remedies With detailed information on deadly diseases, tips on stockpiling supplies and plans for bugging out, this book offers everything required to keep you and your family safe.

Food safety has been a global concern for many years. While global sourcing of foods and ingredients provides great opportunity for variety and diversity of cultural products, there are significant risks. Programs that regulate food safety and quality in countries around the world vary in their scope and effectiveness, with many being underfunded. Rapidly developing countries may lack the expertise, laboratory resources for testing, and established inspection programs to adequately promote the safety of foods. Rather, these countries may be more focused on providing enough food for their citizens. Lack of documentation or traceability in the exporting country can further exacerbate the situation. Of course, safety problems in food imported from more developed countries also occur, and the source of food borne disease outbreaks are found regularly within the United States.

"Improving Import Food Safety" gathers together vital information on the food safety programs of national governments, the food industry, and the testing industry. Chapters have been contributed by authors from the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Readers will learn about a variety of regulatory approaches to food safety at the federal and state levels in the United States, as well as in selected countries and within the food industry itself. They will also gain insights into the nature and source of safety problems, in addition to approaches to food safety around the world.

The book is divided into three sections: Highlighting Key Issues authors illustrate the millions of permutations for the origin of ingredients, discussing the difficulty if policing imports, providing a unique perspective on the economic situation in China and insight into development of support for small farm producers in Mexico.Legal and Regulatory Issues/Structures in the USA and Abroad describes the legal and regulatory system in the European Union, the United States, and China, plus a chapter addressing global approaches to fraud.Potential Strategies to Improve Import Safety presents strategies to deal with what are ultimately global issues, but on multiple levels. Perspectives are provided by authors from Industry, and industry trade association, academia, and a recently semi-retired, global ambassador or food safety.

Readers will find this book noteworthy because of the diverse topics and perspectives offered on the challenges of keeping food safe in a global economy. Authors come from a variety of backgrounds, and each has provided a unique perspective on this critical topic. The volume is aimed at importers and exporters of food and ingredients; food microbiologists, food safety and QC/QA personnel; regulatory and legal personnel in food manufacturing companies; food policy makers and regulatory officials and facility and graduate students in food science.

Microorganisms are widely used in various beneficial applications, including food, pest control, bioremediation, biodegradation, biofuel processes, and plant symbiosis and growth stimulation. his book provides an overview of the available methodology for safety assessments of microorganisms, including determination of their infectivity and whether they produce toxic or sensitising substances. Also covered are the regulatory systems in risk assessment and management of microbial products, quarantine legislations, international treaties, the importance of public risk perception and risk reduction behaviour.

Das vorliegende Buch mit dem Titel "Praktikum der Radioaktivitat und der Radio- chemie" ist eine Neuausgabe des 1968 erschienenen "Praktikums der angewandten Radioaktivitat" von L. HERFORTH und H. KOCH, das wiederum das 1959 erschienene "Radiophysikalische und radiochemische Grundpraktikum" abgelOst hatte. Gegenuber dem bisherigen Praktikumsbuch enthiilt diese Neufassung einige wesentliche Anderungen. Das betrifft neben einer strafferen Gliederung vor allem die Aufnahme einiger neuer Abschnitte, wie z. B. Verfahren zur Verarbeitung von De- tektorsignalen, sonstige Detektoren, elektrochemische Verfahren, Autoradiographie. Einige Abschnitte wurden gekurzt. Das betrifft u. a. das Kapitel Strahlenschutz, da ein entsprechendes Praktikumsbuch in Vorbereitung ist. Um einen groBeren Spiel- raum fur die Versuchsdurchfuhrung zu geben, wurden die Arbeitsanleitungen ge- strafft und auf die gesonderte Aufstellung des Zubehors verzichtet. Aus dem Gesagten wird deutlich, daB es sich bei dem vorliegenden Buch nicht schlechthin um eine Bearbeitung, sondern in wesentlichen Teilen urn eine Neu- erarbeitung handelt, so daB auch der neue Titel verstandlich wird. Ansonsten haben wir die bewahrte Gliederung des Buches in Kapitel, Abschnitte und Versuche beibehalten. Wir halten es auch weiterhin fur zweckmiiBig, Versuchs- beispiele zu geben, da diese besonders all denen von Nutzen sind, die uber keine praktischen Ausbildungsmoglichkeiten verfUgen. Um Wiederholungen von Zitaten weitgehend zu vermeiden, ist die Literatur kapitelweise angeordnet. Sie umfaBt praktisch nur Lehrbucher, Standardwerke oder zusammenfassende Berichte. Originalarbeiten werden nur dort als FuBnote zitiert, wo es keine geeignete Darstellung in zusammenfassender Form gibt oder wo spezielle Beschreibungen von Arbeitsvorgangen und Arbeitsgeraten erforderlich sind.

Toxins in the home can be the cause of unexplained headaches, fatigue, and depression. It is also widely believed that there is a definite link between the increased use of toxins and the rising rate of cancer. In this book, the author of "Nontoxic, Natural & Earthwise" and "The Nontoxic Home & Office" presents more than 400 tips, including do-it-yourself formulas for inexpensive, safe products to replace harmful substances found in the home.

This guide is written for South Africans and was compiled in conjunction with some of the country's leading crime-fighters. The police, legal experts, self-defence specialists, family violence counsellors and many others have pooled their experience to help readers protect themselves and their loved ones from crime.

Das Lebensmittelmonitoring ist ein gemeinsam von Bund und Landern durchgefuhrtes Untersuchungsprogramm, das die amtliche Lebensmitteluberwachung der Bundeslander erganzt. Wahrend die Lebensmitteluberwachung vor allem durch verdachts- und risikoorientierte Untersuchungen die Einhaltung lebensmittelrechtlicher Vorschriften kontrolliert, ist das Lebensmittelmonitoring ein System wiederholter reprasentativer Messungen und Bewertungen von Gehalten an unerwunschten Stoffen wie Pflanzenschutzmitteln, Schwermetallen und anderen Kontaminanten in und auf Lebensmitteln. Mit Hilfe des Lebensmittelmonitorings konnen mogliche gesundheitliche Risiken fur die Verbraucher erkannt und abgestellt werden. Im Jahr 2005 wurden insgesamt 5159 Proben von 50 Lebensmitteln bzw. -gruppen in- und auslandischer Herkunft untersucht."