With all of the negative media about environmental threats over the last four decades, is it any wonder that most people believe disaster is just around the corner? But despite what the media would lead us to believe, annual reports from the Surgeons General show that Americans are the healthiest they have ever been, are becoming healthier, and are, in fact, the healthiest people on the planet. In You've Been Had! Melvin Benarde aims to set the record straight and to counteract the culture of complaint and worry with an unbiased account of the scientific facts-facts that suggest we are anxious and frightened about the wrong things. Contrary to media reports, he argues, the environmental factors that most adversely affect our health are those that are within our power to alter, such as smoking, diet, drugs, stress, guns, speed, and our sedentary lifestyle.
Topics covered include: carcinogens and anticarcinogens; dietary supplements, neutraceuticals, and food for illness prevention; food irradiation and genetically modified foods; microbial threats to health; asthma and allergies; hazardous and toxic waste; radiation and energy from the atom; global warming; risk-taking; obesity; and violence. Benarde also looks at the ways the media reports scientific studies, shows readers how to interpret these reports, and offers reasonable ways to eradicate our widespread hypochondria.
About the Author
Melvin A. Benarde is the author of nine books, including Our Precarious Habitat and Global Warning/Global Warming. He is the former director of the Asbestos/Lead Center at Temple University and former associate director of the Environmental Studies Institute at Drexel University.
