The remaining nine chapters address false negatives — lead in petrol, perchlorethylene contaminated water, Minamata disease, occupational beryllium disease, environmental tobacco smoke, vinyl chloride, dibromochloropropane (DBCP), Bisphenol A and dichlorodiphenyltrichlorethane (DDT) — from which three common themes emerge: there was more than sufficient evidence for much earlier action; slow and sometimes obstructive behaviour by businesses whose products endangered workers, the public and the environment; and the value of independent scientific research and risk assessments.

Part A - Lessons from health hazards contains the following chapters:

• The precautionary principle and false alarms
  Steffen Foss Hansen and Joel A. Tickner
• Lead in petrol 'makes the mind give way'
  Herbert Needleman and David Gee
• Too much to swallow: PCE contamination of mains water
  David Ozonoff
• Minamata disease: a challenge for democracy and justice
  Takashi Yorifuji, Toshihide Tsuda and Masazumi Harada
• Beryllium's 'public relations problem'
  David Michaels and Celeste Monforton
• Tobacco industry manipulation of research
  Lisa A. Bero
• Vinyl chloride: a saga of secrecy
  Morando Soffritti, Jennifer Beth Sass, Barry Castleman and David Gee
• The pesticide DBCP and male infertility
  Eula Bingham and Celeste Monforton
• Bisphenol A: contested science, divergent safety evaluations
  Andreas Gies and Ana M. Soto
• DDT: fifty years since Silent Spring
  Henk Bouwman, Riana Bornman, Henk van den Berg and Henrik Kylin