How much risk?
Subtitle: a guide to understanding environmental health hazards
By: Inge F. Goldstein, Martin Goldstein.
Contributors: Goldstein, Martin, 1919 Nov. 18-
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 338
ISBN-13: 9780195139945
Subjects: Environmental health; Risk assessment
Description: "How Much Risk? illustrates how scientists investigate controversial issues such as high rates of breast cancer attributed to pesticides, cancer clusters near toxic waste dumps and nuclear plants, and the recent worldwide increase in asthma. It explains in lay language the technical terms often appearing in news stories or government reports, such as statistical significance, ionizing radiation, and biological markers. It also describes how scientists distinguish a real cluster of disease from a chance event, the interaction of genetic predisposition and environment in disease, and how radiation can cause some types of cancer."--BOOK JACKET
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 317-324) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: what we hope to do; title: Atomic bombs, nuclear fallout, and dental x-rays; title: Radon in your basement; title: Childhood leukemia near nuclear plants; title: Breast cancer part 1: the rise of activism and the pesticide hypothesis; title: Breast cancer part 2: testing the pesticide hypothesis; title: Power lines, magnetic fields, and cancer; title: Cancer from the landfill?; title: Asthma, allergy, and air pollution; title: Summary: lessons from a disaster.