Public Protection From Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Terrorism
Author: Allen Brodsky, Raymond H. Johnson, and Ronald E. Goans, editorsISBN: 9781930524231 ISBN10: 1930524234
Published: 2004 July | 872 | Hardcover
Price: $ 52.95 was 95.00
Medical Physics | August 2005
"This book is a compilation of papers written by prominent health physicists and scientists on the subject of public protection from nuclear, chemical and biological terrorism. The book covers nuclear terrorism in more detail than the other threats.
"Terrorism and terrorist activities are not new, but they are becoming more sophisticated in their methods and global applications. What used to be a declared or undeclared war between nations has changed into small groups of people from one society going against another society to cause financial, psychological, and physical damage as a statement of their point of view or belief. The book starts with an introduction to terrorism and its social and psychological effects on the general public. Since September 11, 2001 these threats are more real, and the opportunities for terrorism are significant when we consider the modern modes of goods and public transportation in the world and their various vulnerabilities to attack by terrorists. The book covers the training of emergency responders to radiological, chemical and biological terrorism, with a brief history followed by an easy-to-understand training format. The important chapter on instrumentation is clearly written, which is important because first responders may be local police or fire department personnel with limited education and training with these devices. The rapid dose estimation calculations provided will be useful to the health physicists, radiation safety officers and industrial hygienists handling an emergency situation.
"The chapter on hospital response is covered in great detail, and provides information on patient assessment, decontamination procedures, and possible treatment options. This chapter will be useful for hospitals in their allocation of resources and personnel to handle an emergency situation. The roles of local, state, and fereal agencies are well explained. I was fascinated with the chapter on fear, its psychological effects, and suggestions on how to deal with them.
"This is a complete textbook for training early responders to public protection from nuclear, chemical, and biological terrorism. It is a current, thoroughly enjoyable comprehensive text that teachers and students will enjoy and appreciate. After working in a regulatory agency for many years and handling many radiological emergency situations (simple and complex, big and small), I really appreciate this book and strongly recommend it to regulatory personnel, radiation and chemical safety officers, and industrial hygienists, as well as to emergency personnel who will initially respond to crises."
-Bapu A. Kamble, M.S. is a medical physicist and radiation control and radiation safety officer in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Staten Island University Hospital.