The Polluters: The Making of Our Chemically Altered Environment Book

In The Polluters Ross and Amter discuss a few highly publicized incidents of environmental poisoning and the choices the (ir)responsible companies made surrounding each incident, and thereby show how the incident came about and how in many cases firms were able to continue to stave off effective regulation. The book also discusses the personalities who assisted in formulating industry's typical stance in the face of regulation (eg "more research before regulation") as well as those individuals who encouraged effective legal regulation. By telling the history of these events, a well and subtly formed argument is made: industry is incapable of regulating itself because by nature pollution mitigation and success are at odds for this industry.

I found it very interesting that in many of these cases polluters knew of the potential deleterious effects of their actions, but since no regulation existed and it was easier to plead innocence, proactive measures were not taken.

If the book weren't so dry and hadn't seemed a bit cherry-picked, I would have given it four stars.