Killer Commodities Public Health and the Corporate Production of Harm

by Singer, Merrill; Baer, Hans A.; Abadie, Roberto; Castro, Arachu; Cheney, Ann M.; Dietrich, Alexa S.; Erickson, Pamela I.; Hackett, Martine; Howard, Jeff; Livingston, Martha; Love, Terence; McKenna, Brian; Oldani, Michael; Paluzzi, Joan; Westerhaus, Michae

• ISBN13: 9780759109797
• ISBN10: 0759109796
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-08-07
• Publisher: AltaMira Press

Summary

Killer Commodities enters the increasingly heated debate regarding consumer culture with a critical examination of the relationship between public health and the corporate production of goods for profit. This collection analyzes the nature and public health impact of a wide range of dangerous commercial products from around the world, and it addresses the question of how policies should be changed to better protect the public, workers, and the environment. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction: Hidden Harm: The Complex World of Killer Commodities	p. 1
Home Commodities
Stealthy Killers and Governing Mentalities: Chemicals in Consumer Products	p. 35
Nothing to Play Around With: Dangerous Toys for Girls and Boys	p. 67
The Environmental and Health Consequences of Motor Vehicles: A Case Study in Capitalist Technological Hegemony and Grassroots Responses to It	p. 95
Lay Me Down to Sleep: SIDS, Suffocation, and the Selling of Risk Reduction	p. 119
Melanoma Whitewash: Millions at Risk of Injury or Death Because of Sunscreen Deceptions	p. 145
Building with Poison: Toxicity and CCA-Treated Lumber	p. 175
Medical and Pharmaceutical Commodities
U.S. Health Care: Commodification Kills	p. 205
Silicone Seduction: Are Cosmetic Breast Implants Killer Commodities?	p. 225
Selling Sickness/Creating Demand: Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Prescription Drugs	p. 255
Deadly Embrace: Psychoactive Medication, Psychiatry, and the Pharmaceutical Industry	p. 283
A Guinea Pig's Wage: Risk and Commoditization in Pharmaceutical Research in America	p. 311
Corrosion in the System: The Community Health By-Products of Pharmaceutical Production in Northern Puerto Rico	p. 335
Inverting the Killer Commodity Model: Withholding Medicines from the Poor	p. 367
Conclusion: Killer Commodities and Society: Fighting for Change	p. 399
Index	p. 417
About the Contributors	p. 421
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