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Toxicology Disasters

Causes and Consequences

  • 1st Edition - November 1, 2026
  • Latest edition
  • Author: Sue Ford
  • Language: English

Toxicology Disasters: Cause and Consequences, a volume in the History of Toxicology and Environmental Health series, provides an historical overview of significant toxico… Read more

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Description

Toxicology Disasters: Cause and Consequences, a volume in the History of Toxicology and Environmental Health series, provides an historical overview of significant toxicological disasters which involved chemical exposure of humans, animals or the environment. The book documents the timeline of events and the legacy of the resulting exposure which occurred within a specific period of time, but with long lasting consequences. Case studies of toxicological incidents and a wide range of categories, including environmental, industrial, pharmaceutical, domestic and international are not only discussed from a historical perspective but also regarding their impacted toxicology, regulation and our current use of these chemicals.The book will help toxicologists, academics and students from environmental health and toxicology departments, environmental/occupational health regulators, and industrial hygiene/safety personnel gain a better understanding of the arc of a toxicological disaster from its origins, root causes of the problem, and initial and long-term assessments and management.

Key features

  • Organizes historical overviews of each disaster into specific categories (ex. environmental, industrial, pharmaceutical, domestic, and international) for easy reference
  • Takes a “soup to nuts” approach when discussing toxicological incidents, from origins and causes to ultimate health and/or regulatory consequences
  • Provides detailed explanations on how these disasters impacted the toxicology field and fueled regulatory decisions

Readership

Toxicologists, academics from environmental health and toxicology departments and their students, environmental/occupational health regulators, industrial hygiene/safety personnel for industries with Toxic Release Inventory reporting requirements. Environmental scientists, public health professionals

Table of contents

1. Disappearing Towns: Times Beach (MO), Chernobyl (Pripryat, USSR), Centralia (PA), Love Canal (NY)

2. Pharmaceuticals: Elixir Sulfanilamide, thalidomide, Te Genero, diethylstilbestrol

3. Industrial: Valley of the Drums, Seveso (Italy), Bhopal (India), Jilin chemical plant explosions (China)

4. Oil Spills: Torrey Canyon (England/France), Exxon Valdez, Deepwater Horizon, East China Sea

5. Food: Ginger Jake and TOCP, Iraq- mercury, Melamine, Turkey X (mycotoxins), PBBs (Michigan), 2018 methanol in liquor (India), Yusho (Japan)

6. Water: Cuyahoga River, Bangladesh, Minamata (Japan & Canada), James River, Newtown Creek, Flint, Dunsmuir spill (Calif. 1991), Dams and storage tanks (eg. Brazil); Hexavalent chromium, Hudson River/PCBs, PFOAs (Hoosick Falls, etc.)

7. Radioactivity: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl/Fukishima, Atomic Homefront (St. Louis), Goiânia (Brazil)

8. Mining: Tar Creek, Summitville, St. Lawrence (fluorspar), Sunshine Mine Disaster (Idaho), Itai-Itai Disease

9. Government (Military, DOE): Hanford, Cannon AFB (NM), Agent Orange

10. Air Pollution: Donora, London Killer Smog, Asian Brown Cloud

11. Dioxins: Agent Orange, Times Beach, Seveso, WTC, Irish pork crisis

12. Occupational: Phossy Jaw, Radium Girls

13. Terror, Malice, and Mayhem: Tokyo subway attack, Dubrovka Theater Siege, Tylenol murders

Product details

  • Edition: 1
  • Latest edition
  • Published: November 1, 2026
  • Language: English

About the author

SF

Sue Ford

Sue M. Ford, PhD, D.A.B.T. is Associate Professor and Director of the Toxicology Program at St. John’s University in Queens, NY. She received her B.S. in Nutritional Sciences from Cornell University and M.S. and Ph.D. in Human Nutrition from Michigan State University, serving as a graduate fellow at the Center for Environmental Toxicology. After post-doctoral positions in biochemistry at SUNY/Buffalo and toxicology at Bristol-Myers she joined St. John’s in 1987 where her research is focused on renal toxicology and in vitro metabolism of kidney cells. In 1994 Dr. Ford was an AAAS Environmental Science and Engineering Fellow, EPA Industrial Chemicals Branch, Washington, DC. and in 1999-2000 a visiting research investigator at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Ford is a member of the Society of Toxicology and has served as president of the specialty section In Vitro and Alternative Methods as well as the Mid-Atlantic regional chapter (MASOT) of the Society. She was Chair, Education Committee Subcommittee on Undergraduate Education from 2010-2013. Dr. Ford has taught toxicology at the undergraduate and graduate levels for over 30 years. She has been recognized for her contributions to undergraduate education by St. John’s (Teaching Excellence, Undergraduate Teaching, Commencement May 2008), the Society of Toxicology (SOT Endowment Fund Undergraduate Educator Award, 2012), and was a National Academies Education Fellow in the Life Sciences (2012-2013). In June 2018, she participated in an International Faculty Development program in Havana, Cuba.
Affiliations and expertise
Associate Professor and Director of the Toxicology Program at St. John’s University, College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, Queens, NY, USA