Review Author(s): Barry S. Levy Review by: Barry S. Levy Source: Journal of Public Health Policy, Vol. 23, No. 2 (2002), pp. 243-244 Published by: Palgrave Macmillan Journals Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3343202 Accessed: 16-01-2016 02:13 UTC

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BOOK

REVIEWS

243

Morgan realizedthat "protectingemployeesand membersof the publicfromthe harmfuleffectsof exposureto ionizingradiationconstitutedonly a secondaryobjectiveof the nuclear-industrial complex. In exchangefor the generouseconomic supportgiven to our profession, we were expectedto presentfavorabletestimonyin court and congressionalhearings. It was assumed that we would depreciate radiationinjury.We becameobligatedto serve as convincingexpert witnessesto preventemployeesand membersof the public who sufferedradiationinjuryfrom receivingjust compensation." Karl Morgan and Dr. John Gofman, who codiscovered uranium-z33 alongwith Seaborg,and was the firstpersonto isolateplutonium, served as key expert witnesses for the plaintiffsin the Silk-

wood v. Kerr-McGee Corporation (1979)

andAllenv. UnitedStates

(i984) cases. These are describedin a chapter,"The Genie Goes to Court," written by co-author Ken Peterson, an outstanding trial lawyer.The plaintiffswon in both cases, which "constitutethe two most significantradiationcases of the century." This is a remarkablebook. It providesimportantinformationon the developmentand use of the atomic bomb-information which most people do not have-and does so clearly,without jargon,with complex mathematicalformulasrelegatedto the copious notes, and with photographsof many of the individualsinvolved who emerge therebyas real people, not merelynames in a text. The book is easy to read and eminentlyworth it. We have much to learn from Karl Morgan's"walkthroughthe nuclearage." MILTON

TERRIS

DonovanWebster,Aftermath:The Remnantsof War.New York:Vin-

tageBooks,I998. z79 pp. $14.00

paper.

Warhas devastatingimpactson humanhealth and our environment. In addition to direct consequences,includingthat go percentof all deathsin recentwars have been amongcivilians,war has many indirect effects, such as long-termphysicaland psychologicaldisorders,

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Z44

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OF PUBLIC

HEALTH

POLICY

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damageto the social fabric and infrastructureof society,displacement of people, damageto the environment,drainingof resources away from socially productiveactivities,and fosteringa cultureof violence. In this well-writtenbook, DonovanWebsterdescribeshow warsof the zoth centuryhaveleft scarson peopleand the environmentyears aftercombathas ceased.He visits the battlegroundsof severalwars and two militaryweaponssites in the UnitedStatesto confrontthe "remnantsof war"in manyterrifyingforms. He visits four countriesto examineand describethe "aftermath" of previouswars. In France,he observesweapons disposalexperts gatheringand detonatingunexplodedbombs and shells from two world wars. In Russia, he visits battlegroundswhere thousandsof Germanand Russiansoldiersdied duringWorldWar II. He visits Vietnam,where i millionpeople continueto sufferfrom post-traumaticstressdisorderandmanychildrensufferfrombirthdefectsthat were likely caused by Agent Orangeand other chemicaldefoliants. And he visitsKuwait,wherepeopleare clearing7 millionlandmines and unexplodedbombletsand shells. In the UnitedStates,he visits and describestwo weaponssites. He visitswith officialsat the atomicweaponstest site in Nevada,where iz6 atomicweaponswere detonatedin open-airtests from I951 to I963, and fromwhichmanycommunitieswereexposedto, and their residentssufferedadversehealtheffectsfrom,highlevelsof radiation. He also visits and describesa toxic weaponsincineratorin Utah. Webster'sdescriptionsare chillinglyvivid and punctuatedby conversationswith his hosts at each of these sites, from a walk, at the start of the book, througha denseforest nearVerdun,where unexplodedartilleryshellsfromWorldWarI abound,to a tour,at the end of the book, througha toxic weaponsincinerator,wherehe considers the disastrousimplicationsof an unintendedleak of incompletely burnedVX. This book is highlyrecommendedfor anyoneconcernedaboutthe healthand environmentaleffectsof war and the preparationfor war. Its messagecannot be ignoredby any public healthprofessionalor publichealthstudent. BARRY

S. LEVY

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