Schweitzer draws heavily on his own experiences as the first director of the EPA's Office of Toxic Substances (1973-77) and as the director of the EPA's Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory in Las Vegas (1980-85) in this review of efforts to control hazardous chemicals from the early 1970s into the beginning of the 1990s. The emphasis is on environmental goals and on general policies and approaches in pursuit of these goals. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.