Environmental Cancer-A Political Disease?

by Stanley Rothman, S. Robert Lichter, Lichter, et al.

Book Overview

Media reports on environmental cancer are frequent and frightening. Public policy--and public spending--reflect widespread concern over the presence of carcinogens in our air and water and food. Yet how reliable is mass media information about environmental cancer? How accurate are the risk assessments that underlie our public policy decisions?

In this provocative book, S. Robert Lichter and Stanley Rothman examine the controversies surrounding...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300076347
• ISBN13: 9780300076349
• Release Date: February 1999
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Facts, Not Fear

Fear of the unknown is perhaps one of the greatest fears mankind faces. Environmental activists capitalize on that fear; and, magnified by media, especially Main Stream Media, congress reacts creating laws which lead to regulations leveled on industry that far exceed the risk they purport to control. Meanwhile the greatest cancer risks involve lifestyle, free choices made by free people apparently oblivious to, or uncaring, about the risks they subject themselves to on an everyday basis. With clarity and brevity the authors describe their research regarding the causes of cancer in Americans and compare the opinion of experts (defined as cancer researchers) to those of environmental activists, the media and the public. In all cases the opinions of the experts are diametrically opposed to those of the activitsts which mirror the media's portrayal of the cancer risks Americans face. The authors concisely lay out their premise and describe the replicable research they did to arrive at the conclusion that Environmental Cancer is indeed a political disease. This book is must reading for anyone trying to understand the basics of cancer risk in America and the implications of continuing to regulate based on fear not facts.