Main description:

Killer Commodities enters the increasingly heated debate regarding consumer culture with a critical examination of the relationship between corporate production of goods for profit and for public health. 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.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Introduction: Hidden Harm: The Complex World of Killer Commodities Chapter 2 Stealthy Killers and Governing Mentalities: Chemicals in Consumer Products Chapter 3 Nothing to Play Around With: Dangerous Toys for Girls and Boys Chapter 4 The Environmental and Health Consequences of Motor Vehicles: A Case Study in Capitalist Technological Hegemony and Grass-Roots Responses to It Chapter 5 Lay Me Down to Sleep: SIDS, Suffocation, and the Selling of Risk Reduction Chapter 6 Melanoma Whitewash: Millions at Risk of Injury or Death because of Sunscreen Deceptions Chapter 7 Building with Poison: Toxicity and CCA-treated Lumber Chapter 8 U.S. Health Care: Commodification Kills Chapter 9 Silicone Seduction: Are Cosmetic Breast Implants Killer Commodities? Chapter 10 Selling Sickness/Creating Demand: Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Prescription Drugs Chapter 11 Deadly Embrace: Psychoactive Medication, Psychiatry, and the Pharmaceutical Industry Chapter 12 A Guinea Pig's Wage: Risk and Commoditization in Pharmaceutical Research in America Chapter 13 Corrosion in the System: The Community Health By-Products of Pharmaceutical Production in Northern Puerto Rico Chapter 14 Inverting the Killer Commodity Model: Withholding Medicines from the Poor Chapter 15 Conclusion: Killer Commodities and Society: Fighting for Change