Paul D. Blanc, MD
How Everyday Products Make People Sick
Toxins at Home and in the Workplace
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385 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 10 b/w photographs
January 2007, Available worldwide
Categories: Health & Medicine; Health Care; Public Policy
January 2007, Available worldwide
Categories: Health & Medicine; Health Care; Public Policy
Downloadable eBook version available:
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"A superbly researched and scholarly book that traces the history of the author's selection of relatively well-known occupational hazards."—Occupational & Environmental Medicine
"His descriptions are colorful and make what can sometimes be a dry subject come alive. . . . Entertaining but interesting."—Jama
Nothing less than an extraordinarily documented tapestry of history, whodunit, who ignored it, and why it matters, this examination of everyday toxins is a revealing and compelling read. . . . Compelling from an environmental, public health and medical viewpoints, it is an indictment of industrial malfeasance. It is not alarmist and is more history than hysterics."—Foreword
"Using colourful stories, Blanc offers evidence for his main points, most notably that there is no absolute division between consumers and workers. It is a wonderful read. . . . In the 26 years since I directed the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, I haven't seen a book that so clearly describes how the health of workers fits into the big picture, and how occupational health can also protect the public."—Anthony Robbins, Nature
"A scathing account of how industry toxins and factory processes have systematically poisoned large portions of the human population. . . . Documents hazards generated as new products and processes birth chemicals that sicken workers and environments, and castigates governments and businesses that have historically denied, ignored, or weakened protections for workers. "—Library Journal STARRED REVIEW
"His descriptions are colorful and make what can sometimes be a dry subject come alive. . . . Entertaining but interesting."—Jama
Nothing less than an extraordinarily documented tapestry of history, whodunit, who ignored it, and why it matters, this examination of everyday toxins is a revealing and compelling read. . . . Compelling from an environmental, public health and medical viewpoints, it is an indictment of industrial malfeasance. It is not alarmist and is more history than hysterics."—Foreword
"Using colourful stories, Blanc offers evidence for his main points, most notably that there is no absolute division between consumers and workers. It is a wonderful read. . . . In the 26 years since I directed the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, I haven't seen a book that so clearly describes how the health of workers fits into the big picture, and how occupational health can also protect the public."—Anthony Robbins, Nature
"A scathing account of how industry toxins and factory processes have systematically poisoned large portions of the human population. . . . Documents hazards generated as new products and processes birth chemicals that sicken workers and environments, and castigates governments and businesses that have historically denied, ignored, or weakened protections for workers. "—Library Journal STARRED REVIEW
"A superb tool for making our homes, finally, a safe place to raise children."—Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., author of Crimes Against Nature and St. Francis of Assisi.
"This is the work of a lifetime, one sure to be a classic for future lifetimes. Thirty years ago, Paul Blanc educated me about the threat of cancers caused by corporate and government negligence. Now he tells a great, entertaining and shocking story, based on a vast knowledge of science, government regulation, history and popular culture that shows our personal dependency and the almost-forsaken cause of public health."—Tom Hayden, former chairman, committee on natural resources, California state senate."
"A masterful synthesis of some of the very heated and critical environmental and occupational health issues of our time. Paul Blanc offers a grounded look at the long term history of industrial disease, and the toxic environment in which we now live -- something that has been overlooked in discussions of the rise of the modern environmental movement."—David Rosner, author of Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution and co-author of Are We Ready? Public Health Since 9/11.
"This is the work of a lifetime, one sure to be a classic for future lifetimes. Thirty years ago, Paul Blanc educated me about the threat of cancers caused by corporate and government negligence. Now he tells a great, entertaining and shocking story, based on a vast knowledge of science, government regulation, history and popular culture that shows our personal dependency and the almost-forsaken cause of public health."—Tom Hayden, former chairman, committee on natural resources, California state senate."
"A masterful synthesis of some of the very heated and critical environmental and occupational health issues of our time. Paul Blanc offers a grounded look at the long term history of industrial disease, and the toxic environment in which we now live -- something that has been overlooked in discussions of the rise of the modern environmental movement."—David Rosner, author of Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution and co-author of Are We Ready? Public Health Since 9/11.
This book reveals the hidden health dangers in many of the seemingly innocent products we encounter every day—a tube of glue in a kitchen drawer, a bottle of bleach in the laundry room, a rayon scarf on a closet shelf, a brass knob on the front door, a wood plank on an outdoor deck. A compelling exposé, written by a physician with extensive experience in public health and illustrated with disturbing case histories, How Everyday Products Make People Sick is a rich and meticulously documented account of injury and illness across different time periods, places, and technologies. It presents a picture not of one exceptional or corrupt industry but rather of how run-of-the-mill manufacturing processes and consumer marketing expose workers and the general public alike to toxic hazards. More troubling still, even when such hazards are recognized, calls for their control are routinely ignored. Written for a wide audience, it offers a critical and disquieting perspective on the relationship between industrial development and its adverse health consequences.
Among the surprisingly common hazards discussed in How Everyday Products Make People Sick:
* Glue and rubber cement
* Chlorine bleach
* Rayon and other synthetic textiles
* Welding and other metal fumes
* Wood preservatives
* Gasoline additives
Among the surprisingly common hazards discussed in How Everyday Products Make People Sick:
* Glue and rubber cement
* Chlorine bleach
* Rayon and other synthetic textiles
* Welding and other metal fumes
* Wood preservatives
* Gasoline additives
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The Forgotten Histories of "Modern" Hazards
2. The Shadow of Smoke: How to Evade Regulation
3. Good Glue, Better Glue, Superglue
4. Under a Green Sea: The Rising Tide of Chlorine
5. Going Crazy at Work: Cycles of Carbon Disulfide Poisoning
6. Job Fever: Inhaling Dust and Fumes
7. Emerging Toxins
Conclusion
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The Forgotten Histories of "Modern" Hazards
2. The Shadow of Smoke: How to Evade Regulation
3. Good Glue, Better Glue, Superglue
4. Under a Green Sea: The Rising Tide of Chlorine
5. Going Crazy at Work: Cycles of Carbon Disulfide Poisoning
6. Job Fever: Inhaling Dust and Fumes
7. Emerging Toxins
Conclusion
Notes
Index
No Safe Place: Toxic Waste, Leukemia, and Community Action, by Phil Brown and Edwin J. Mikkelsen
Nature's Operating Instructions: The True Biotechnologies, edited by Kenny Ausubel and J. P. Harpignies
Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution, by Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner
Nature's Operating Instructions: The True Biotechnologies, edited by Kenny Ausubel and J. P. Harpignies
Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution, by Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner