Hazardous Chemicals

Ernst Homburg is Professor of History of Science and Technology Emeritus at Maastricht University. His scholarly work has included the co-editorship of two multivolume book series on the history of technology in the Netherlands, as well as of New Dictionary of Scientific Biography (2007), and Solvay: History of a Multinational Family Firm (2012, with Kenneth Bertrams and Nicolas Coupain).

“Homburg and Vaupel provide an excellent review of the industrial development of eight chemical substances that have emerged as problematic agents to global public health and the environment since the dawn of the industrial revolution…the language here is non-technical, and each chapter provides extensive footnotes and references…Recommended” • Choice“Overall, the edited collection offers scholars an excellent set of biographical chemical histories… the scholarship is superb.” • Technology and Culture“Ernst Homburg and Elisabeth Vaupel make an outstanding contribution to historical toxicology by assembling an impressively varied but closely interconnected collection of essays that focus on a number of industrially produced chemical substances. They do so, too, by their own introductory overview of toxicological concepts and developments across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and by a conclusion that addresses the overarching question of periodization in the historiography of the regulation of hazardous chemicals.” • Isis Journal“This collection is an important addition to the literature and will help the field take the now overdue step from national to global research.” • Labour History Review“Hazardous Chemicals hopefully also encourages medical doctors to stay alert to signs of toxicity, to conduct good research, and to formulate conclusions so clearly that industry, legislation and the public can actually do something with it.” • Medisch Contact“These very rich investigations into the history of poison, hazard and regulation contain new insights and empirical findings. Hazardous Chemicals is a very substantial addition to the literature in the field.” • Carsten Reinhardt, University of Bielefeld“Hazardous Chemicals is a bold contribution to the blooming field of historical studies on toxic products. It includes many excellent chapters that approach the topic from many different perspectives, covering a broad range of harmful substances, geographical contexts, and stakeholders while giving insightful analyses of relevant cases and offering comparative perspectives on toxic risk regulation.” • José Ramón Bertomeu Sánchez, Universitat de València

• List of Figures and TablesAbbreviationsAcknowledgementsIntroduction: Hazardous Chemicals, 1800–2000: A Conceptual and Regulatory OverviewErnst Homburg and Elisabeth VaupelPART I: FROM ACUTE TO CHRONIC POISONING: REGULATING OLD POISONS IN THE INDUSTRIAL AGEChapter 1. Schweinfurt Green and the Sanitary Police: The Fight Against Copper Arsenite PigmentsJoost Mertens†Chapter 2. The Banning of White Lead: French and International RegulationsLaurence LestelChapter 3. Old Situations, New Complications: Lead and Lead Poisoning in a Changing WorldChristian WarrenPART II: DISCOVERING NEW HEALTH IMPACTS: CARCIOGENESIS, MUTAGENESIS AND MORE IN TIMES OF UNCERTAINTY AND NON-KNOWLEDGEChapter 4. Discovering Chemical Carcinogenesis: The Case of the Aromatic AminesHeiko Stoff and Anthony S. TravisChapter 5. Cyclamates: A Tale of Uncertain Knowledge (1930s–1980s)Alexander von SchwerinChapter 6. Cadmium Poisoning in Japan: The Itai-itai Disease and BeyondMasanori Kaji†Chapter 7. Dioxins: The “Total Poison”Stefan BöschenPART III: NEW PRODUCTS, NEW EFFECTS. THE DISCOVERY OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE LONG SHADOW OF THE 1960SChapter 8. OrganophosphatesFrederick R. DavisChapter 9. A Tale of Two Nations: DDT in the USA and the UKPeter J. T. MorrisChapter 10. War and Peace: The Phenoxy HerbicidesAmy M. HayChapter 11. Raising a Stink: The Short Happy Life of MTBEJohn K. SmithConclusionsErnst Homburg and Elisabeth VaupelIndex