Rating:
Francis M E La Ferla's Under Attack provides an accessible tour of this potentially complex subject. Using his considerable experience teaching the subject to undergraduate students, the former World Health Organization adviser for Europe provides a good introduction to this subject and its implications for workplace health; the reader need not be a chemistry and biology major.
As the subtitle of the book suggests, its focus is on the biological and chemical fundamentals of toxicology. With a spattering of entertaining historical references, Dr La Ferla covers all the different systems of the body: skin, digestive, respiratory, lymphatic and so on and the impact that chemicals, natural and synthetic, can have on them. He sets this in the context of the fact that we live in a world full of chemicals, many of which are essential to life and captures what for me is the essential point of toxicology: it's not so much the nature of the substance, but how we are exposed to it, how much enters the body and then, most critically, what the body does to it.
It is a little indulgent, occasionally repetitive and slightly haphazard in structure but this is clearly the work of a passionate expert. Though the latter chapters cover some broader subject matter that feels like an afterthought and grates a little, I enjoyed this book and felt that it provided the right breadth and depth, whether the reader is approaching the subject from new or as a refresher.
Aimed at safety and health professionals and students, the book keeps its focus on workplace health risk with some signposting to activities that can be carried out in the workplace to raise awareness and tackle the risk.
Chapters 7 and 8 provide a more detailed focus on occupational cancers and industrial materials respectively.
Since I still see "COSHH risk assessments" that simply repeat what's on a safety data sheet, I believe this is essential reading for all safety and health practitioners. A basic understanding of toxicology and effective application of that knowledge in the workplace is crucial if we are to raise our voices and tackle occupational health risk effectively.
For more information email the author, Francis M E La Ferla: [email protected]