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Do cell phones cause brain cancer? Does BPA threaten our health? How safe are certain dietary supplements, especially those containing exotic herbs or small amounts of toxic substances? What role does the HPV virus play in the development of cervical cancer, and is the HPV vaccine safe? In four detailed case studies, Geoffrey C. Kabat shows how science works... and sometimes doesn't, and what distinguishes these two very different outcomes. We depend on science and medicine as never before, yet there is widespread misinformation and confusion, amplified by the media, regarding what influences our health. Kabat's goal in Getting Risk Right is to enable the general reader to distinguish between claims that are supported by solid science and those that are the result of poorly-designed or misinterpreted studies. By exploring different examples, he shows us why certain risks are worth worrying about, while others are not. Attempts to explain anti-science attitudes often focus on irrational fears and beliefs and on the powerful role of business interests.
About the author
Geoffrey C. Kabat is a cancer epidemiologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Medical Center. He is also the author of Hyping Health Risks: Environmental Hazards in Daily Life and the Science of Epidemiology (Columbia, 2009) and writes a regular column for Forbes.
Summary
An incisive look at some of today’s most contested health risks—both real and illusory.
Report
"Geoffrey Kabat's writing, as usual, is phenomenally clear and expressive. His logical cadences are both air-tight and a pleasure to read. His insights into the workings and mis-workings of science, the sociology of science, and the interplay of personalities and organizations are penetrating and precise, and, above all original." - Steven D. Stellman, Columbia University
