In the United States alone, industrial and agricultural toxins account
for about 60,000 avoidable cancer deaths annually. Pollution-related
health costs to Americans are similarly staggering: $13 billion a year
from asthma, $351 billion from cardiovascular disease, and $240
billion from occupational disease and injury. Most troubling,
children, the poor, and minorities bear the brunt of these health
tragedies.Why, asks Kristin Shrader-Frechette, has the government
failed to protect us, and what can we do about it? In this book, at
once brilliant and accessible, Shrader-Frechette reveals how
politicians, campaign contributors, and lobbyists--and their power
over media, advertising, and public relations--have conspired to cover
up environmental disease and death. She also shows how science and
regulators themselves are frequently "captured" by well-funded
polluters and special interests. But most important, the author puts
both the blame--and the solution--on the shoulders of ordinary
citizens. She argues that everyone, especially in a democracy, has a
duty to help prevent avoidable environmental deaths, to remain
informed about, and involved in, public-health and environmental
decision-making. Toward this end, she outlines specific, concrete ways
in which people can contribute to life-saving reforms, many of them
building on recommendations of the American Public Health Association.
As disturbing as it is, Shrader-Frechette's message is ultimately
hopeful. Calling for a new "democratic revolution," she reminds us
that while only a fraction of the early colonists supported the
American Revolution, that tiny group managed to change the world. Her
book embodies the conviction that we can do the same for environmental
health, particularly if citizens become the change they seek."Timely,
accessible, and written with enviable clarity and passion. A
distinguished philosopher sounds an ethical call to arms to prevent
illness and death from pollution." --Sheila Jasanoff, Harvard
University"Influential and impressive. A must-read."--Nicholas A.
Ashford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology"By one of America's
foremost philosophers and public intellectuals; immensely readable,
courageous, often startling, insightful."--Richard Hiskes, University
of Connecticut"Like Rachel Carson's _Silent Spring_--brilliant,
brave."--Sylvia Hood Washington, University of Illinois, Chicago"A
blistering account of how advocacy must be brought to bear on issues
of justice and public health."-- Jeffrey Kahn, University of Minnesota
"No other author can so forcefully bring together ethical analysis,
government policy, and environmental science. Outstanding."--Colleen
Moore, University of Wisconsin
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780199886746
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter