Illness and the Environment: A Reader in Contested Medicine

Book Overview

In myriad ways, humans have gradually tailored their world to meet immediate material needs. In so doing, we have, in the minds of many, systematically altered a formerly hospitable environment into one more ambiguous in its effect on the human organism. Just as environments have adapted in response to human activity, so too is the human body now, in turn, forced to adapt to these altered conditions. Today, mysterious illnesses, from chronic fatigue...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814747299
• ISBN13: 9780814747292
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: New York University Press
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Practical.

I encountered this "Illness and the Environment" when I took independent course dealing with persistent organic chemicals, and found it eye opening and practical. So many chemicals commercialized in industries pose uncertainty as to safety and their fate. The cases described in the book are of course non fiction, and we can re examine our lives how much ignorance has dictated our life pertaining to those chemicals. Smell good, that does not necessarily mean they are good to you. Those chemicals must be contested before they get to us. In general, politics of chemicals is that chemicals are innocent until proven guilty. But, many of the stories say that is too late. It's one of best compilations of contemporary environmental issues.