The public health impacts of war often directly correspond to the various ecological consequences described in the previous section. The use of conventional weapons results in impacts such as pollution, depletion of resources, and destruction of vital health-related infrastructure, and frequently causes severe collateral damage to civilian health. In addition, the production, testing, use, and even dismantling of weapons of mass destruction can release deadly toxins with widespread health effects.

Many of the same methodological constraints and scientific uncertainties that impede accurate prediction and assessment of ecological impacts also plague the process of determining the causes and extent of public health damage during war. The nature of the public health discipline also presents unique challenges to achieving accurate assessment and creating successful intervention strategies. The authors in this section address both the health impacts themselves, and reasons and possible solutions for these methodological difficulties.

Jennifer Leaning examines the discipline of public health itself, tracing the history of its relationship with violent conflict, including the more recent, specifically public-health-related challenges presented by many of the conflicts that have taken place since the Cold War. Alastair Hay focuses on the health-related impacts of the use of defoliants during the Vietnam War. Victor Sidel calls attention to the types of environmental and public health damage that result from preparations for war, and broadens the scope of inquiry through an assessment of the ramifications of “militarism” viewed broadly. Finally, David Fidler focuses on the alterations of the humanmicrobe relationship that result from wartime conditions as the basis forexploring the international legal framework for preventing and mitigating morbidity and mortality in wartime.