Agent Orange : history, science, and the politics of uncertainty /

"[T]here are few, if any, concrete answers about Agent Orange," concludes the author of this study of the defoliant/herbicide used lavishly by the US during the Vietnam War. This is not to say that there are no facts or consequences among which to search for answers. Agent Orange (a mixture of the herbicides 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T) was one of a rainbow of chemicals used to deprive the Viet Cong, the North Vietnamese army, and bystander villagers and farmers of Vietnam of jungle cover and edible crops. Claimed to be perfectly harmless to humans, it brought with it the contaminant dioxin, which is far from harmless. The resulting human illness, suffering, and death present a tangle of politics, liability, justice issues, blame, and hysteria that has never been resolved and that was not confined to the battlefields of Southeast Asia. Martini (Western Michigan Univ.) provides a dense and conscientious review of the chemical, botanical, medical, and legal facts, politics, and reportage surrounding what military thinking at the time assumed to be a harmless, short-term tactic. A nuanced and thorough presentation of the "politics of uncertainty," with comprehensive bibliographies and an intelligent, useable index. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; general readers. T. R. Blackburn formerly, American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund