Suggested Reading

We also have several Children's Books

An Air That Kills: How the Asbestos Poisoning of Libby, Montana Uncovered a National Scandal, By Andrew Schneider, David McCumber
Hardcover, February 2004, Putnam Pub Group

Description -

The true story of the decades-long poisoning of a small town and the definitive exposé of asbestos in America-told by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists who broke it.

In a valley in Montana, the U.S. has spent millions of dollars removing toxic residue from a town that had lain pristine for ages. Until the last century, when the dust came down like a snowstorm. That dust turned a paradise into the worst of America's killing fields, a name at the top of the list that includes Love Canal and Woburn. A place now known to be deadlier than all the rest: Libby.

Lean on Me - Cancer Through a Carer's Eyes, By Lorraine Kember
http://www.cancerthroughacarerseyes.jkwh.com/

Description-

This book is 'A powerfully moving and inspirational true story of a courageous man's battle with cancer and his wife's emotional journey as she supports him throughout his ordeal.' Lorraine has been praised for her bravery and courage in writing and publishing this book which 'bares her soul' in the hope of helping others who have or are facing the battle of a terminal illness.

Radium Girls: Women and Industrial Health Reform 1910-1935, By Claudia Clark
Hardcover, Paperback, July 1997, University of North Carolina Press

Description-

In the early twentieth century, a group of women workers hired to apply luminous paint to watch faces and instrument dials found themselves among the first victims of radium poisoning. Claudia Clark's book tells the compelling story of these women, who at first had no idea that dial painting was any different from the other factory jobs. But after repeated exposure to the radium-laced paint, they began to develop mysterious, often fatal illnesses that they traced to conditions in the workplace. Their fight to have their symptoms recognized as an industrial disease represents an important chapter in the history of modern health and labor policy.

Libby, Montana: Asbestos & the Deadly Silence of an American Corporation, By Andrea Peacock
Hardcover, June 2003, Johnson Books

Description-

Libby, Montana tells the heartbreaking story of a small town in northwestern Montana, where the W.R. Grace Corporation ran a vermiculite mine that supplied the world with insulation, fireproofing and gardening materials for almost 30 years. But the great secret was, Libby's vermiculite was contaminated with a virulent form of asbestos. In a masterpiece of investigative reporting, journalist Andrea Peacock follows the trail of greed and illness for Libby to the World Trade Center (where Libby's asbestos-lasted vermiculite was used to fireproof the steel beams bolding up the buildings.) Libby, Montana is, at its heart, a story about human nature, about the shades of good and evil in our souls and the forces that move us.

Fatal Deception: How Big Business is Still Killing Us with Asbestos, By Michael Bowker
Hardcover, January 2003, Rodale Press; Audio - Abridged, January 2003, Simon & Schuster Audio

Description-

At first glance, the events in this book may seem equal parts science fiction and legal thriller. Unfortunately, they are not. This is a true story of blinding greed, cruel deceit, unfortunate circumstance, and powerful human tragedy. It has villains and heroes, but it does not yet have a good ending.
Something's wrong in Libby, Montana. Residents are dying at a rate sixty times higher than the national average from a battery of insidious diseases, and they will continue to suffer for decades to come. The cause: a so-called miracle mineral that generations of families felt thankful for, until they discovered that the "miracle" was too good to be true-and that the town's disturbing mortality rate was hardly an accident.

The scope of the asbestos contamination goes far beyond Libby. Even before the dust had settled following the September 11 terrorist attacks, those who live and work in lower Manhattan were voicing well-founded concerns about air quality around Ground Zero. Tests conducted at the site yielded conflicting results-and possibly evidence of a continuing corporate and governmental cover-up that mirrors a pattern of deception threatening not only the physical health of millions of Americans but the financial stability of our economy.

Michael Bowker is an investigative journalist who specializes in telling the human stories behind today's health, science, and environmental issues. He has written four books and hundreds of articles for a variety of publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Outside magazine, and the San Francisco Chronicle. He lives in Placerville, California.

Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects, By Barry I. Castleman and Stephen L. Berger
Hardcover, 4th ed, June 1996, Panel Publishers

Description-

Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects provides a comprehensive picture of the development of knowledge on asbestos disease and worker health. Barry Castleman's research makes this book essential reading for anyone involved in litigation over the compensation of asbestos disease victims and environmental health. Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects draws upon published literature of all kinds to chronicle the origin and development of today's asbestos problem. To attorneys in asbestos litigation, this book offers a complete documentation on the development of knowledge about asbestos hazards. There is an abundance of valuable material for the attorney preparing his case. Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects is a major contribution to the public debate and litigation over the compensation of asbestos victims. It also is an invaluable tool for formulators of public health policy and legislation.

Asbestos in the Schools: A Guide for School Administrators, Teachers and Parents, By Carolyn Harvey and Mark Rollinson
Hardcover, November 1987, Greenwood Publishing Group

Description-

Asbestos in the Schools opens with a brief overview of the history of asbestos, its use in industry and as a fire retardant, and the discovery of occupational hazards associated with asbestos dust airborne. A description of the key terms related to the topic follows. The authors can turn to the statistical analyses and legal matters and explain their implications to the problem of asbestos in the schools. The following chapter considers the class action suit against the asbestos industry, the legal aspects of asbestos removal, the exposure of school authorities to legal action, personal exposure of school board members, and the contractor's exposure. The authors assert that while the real risks to students and teachers from asbestos is minimal the legal risks to school administrators and trustees from their actions and/or inactions are real. The concluding chapters take the reader from step-by-step through the abatement process and review the financial costs associated with asbestos removal. The authors conclude with a commentary on several ethical questions raised by the issue of asbestos in schools.

Environmental Public Health Policy for Asbestos in Schools Unintended Consequences, By Jacqueline Karnell Corn
Hardcover, September 1999, Lewis Publishers

Description-

Written in a straightforward style, Environmental Public Health Policy for Asbestos in Schools: Unintended Consequences explains technical concepts in language easily understood by non-experts while giving insight into the politics of environment. The author highlights how the issue of asbestos influenced the development of environmental policy and its implications for other potential health hazards. Understanding the factors and judgments involved in this issue shows the reader how the government - and society - perceives, assesses, and develops public health policy.

Magic Mineral to Killer Dust: Turner and Newall and the Asbestos Hazard, By Geoffrey Tweedale, Philip Hansen, Turner & Newall and Turner and Newall Staff
Hardcover, February 2000, Oxford University Press

Description-

Asbestos was once known as the 'magic mineral' because of its ability to withstand flames. Yet since the 1970s, it has become a notorious and feared 'killer dust' that is responsible for thousands of deaths and an epidemic that will continue for many years.

Children's Books:

Sharon Finds the Environment
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health

You and Your Genes: Making it in a Tough Environment
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Environmental Diseases from A to Z
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health

Enjoy Your Cells Series, By Fran Balkwill; illustrated by Mic Rolph
Hardcover, Paperback, 2002, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

Description-

Enjoy Your Cells is a new series of children's books from the acclaimed creative partnership of scientist/author Fran Balkwill and illustrator Mic Rolph. Once again, they use their unique brand of simple but scientifically accurate commentary and exuberantly colorful graphics to take young readers on an entertaining exploration of the amazing, hidden world of cells, proteins, and DNA.

It's over ten years since Fran and Mic invented a new way of getting science across to children. Think what extraordinary advances have been made in biology in that time-and how often those discoveries made headlines. Stem cells, cloning, embryo transfer, emerging infections, vaccine development...here in these books are the basic facts behind the public debates. With these books, children will learn to enjoy their cells and current affairs at the same time. And they're getting information that has been written and reviewed by working scientists, so it's completely correct and up-to-date. Readers aged 7 and up will appreciate the stories' lively language and with help, even younger children will enjoy and learn from the jokes and illustrations-no expert required!