This timely collection of original essays traces the migration of synthetic chemicals from the laboratory to the factory and then into the environment, bodies and communities.

From chemistry sets to chemical weapons, from plastics to pesticides, and from air pollution to Agent Orange, industrial chemicals have transformed the way we live. Industrial chemicals have brought many good things to life, but at what cost - disease, disaster and death. This timely collection of original essays traces the migration of synthetic chemicals from the laboratory to the factory and then into our environment, bodies and communities. The impact these chemicals have on our ecosystems, human health and political processes is addressed by the the contributors, breaking new ground by focusing on the production and distribution of these potentially hazardous agents themselves rather than just detailing their effects. Synthetic Planet is a first-rate, cohesive argument about the risks of chemicals to the natural world - an issue that can no longer be ignored.

Table of Contents Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction: Chemical MattersMonica J. Casper
Part I: Environments 1. Troubled Natures: Toxic Pollutants and Japanese Identity in Two Tokyo Communitites Peter Wynn Kirby 2. Indoor Air Pollution: Environmental Inequality Inside Allison Shore 3. Chemical Weapons "Dispersal"?: The Mundane Politics of
Air Monitoring Monica J. Casper
Part II: Bodies 4. Chemical Politics and the Hazards of Modern Warfare: Agent
Orange Diane Fox 5. From Metallic to Sickly: Chemical Waste, Environmental Discourse, and the National Body in Post-Socialist Hungary Zsuzsa Gille 6. When a Child Has Cancer: Protecting Children From A Toxic World Virginia Adams O'Connell
Part III: Communities 7. Permitting Poison: Public Participation, the Criteria for Action, and Environmental Justice in the Case of Dioxin Karen Hoffman
8. Chemicals, Cancer, and Prevention: The Synergy of Synthetic Social Movements Maren Klawiter 9. Change of State?: The Greening of Chemistry E. J. Woodhouse
Part IV: Nations 10. Sexual Synthetics: Women, Science, and Microbicides Susan E. Bell 11. Chemicals and Casualties: The Search for Causes of Gulf War Illnesses Phil Brown, Steve Zavestoski, Meadow Linder, Sabrina McCormick, and Brian Mayer 12. The Chemistry of Sovietization: Industrial Solvents and Nationalist Reactions in 1960's Lithuania Diana Mincyte 13. Conclusion: Environmental Security in an Uncertain World Monica J. Casper and Barbara A. Barnes Notes References List of Contributors