Medical research, with its power to attract money and political support, and its promise of cures for a wide range of medical burdens, has good and bad sides--which are often indistinguishable. In this book, the author teases out the distinctions and differences, revealing the difficulties that result when the research imperative is suffused with excessive zeal, adulterated by the profit motive, or used to justify cutting moral corners. Exploring the National Institutes of Health's annual budget, the inflated estimates of health care cost savings that result from research, the high prices charged by drug companies, the use and misuse of human subjects for medical testing, and the controversies surrounding human cloning and stem cell research, he clarifies the fine line between doing good and doing harm in the name of medical progress. His work shows that medical research must be understood in light of other social and economic needs and how even the research imperative, dedic.

Monitoring for Health Hazards at Work has become an essential companion for students and professionals in occupational hygiene, offering a concise account of the dangers faced in a wide variety of work environments and giving practical, step-by-step guidance to gauge exposure. It includes: Coverage of most major health hazards: airborne dust, fibres, gases, vapours, noise, radiation, and biological agents Accounts of the latest equipment and techniques required to monitor such hazards Full guidance on how to undertake risk assessments Now thoroughly revised and restructured by an eminent new team of authors, the fourth edition brings this valuable handbook right up to date.

Natural Hazards: Earth Processes as Hazards, Disasters and Catastrophes, Fourth Edition, is an introductory-level survey intended for university and college courses that are concerned with earth processes that have direct, and often sudden and violent, impacts on human society. The text integrates principles of geology, hydrology, meteorology, climatology, oceanography, soil science, ecology and solar system astronomy. The book is designed for a course in natural hazards for non-science majors, and a primary goal of the text is to assist instructors in guiding students who may have little background in science to understand physical earth processes as natural hazards and their consequences to society. Natural Hazards uses historical to recent examples of hazards and disasters to explore how and why they happen and what we can do to limit their effects. The text's up-to-date coverage of recent disasters brings a fresh perspective to the material. The Fourth Edition continues our new active learning approach that includes reinforcement of learning objective with a fully updated visual program and pedagogical tools that highlight fundamental concepts of the text. This program will provide an interactive and engaging learning experience for your students. Here's how: Provide a balanced approach to the study of natural hazards: Focus on the basic earth science of hazards as well as roles of human processes and effects on our planet in a broader, more balanced approach to the study of natural hazards. Enhance understanding and comprehension of natural hazards: Newly revised stories and case studies give students a behind the scenes glimpse into how hazards are evaluated from a scientific and human perspective; the stories of real people who survive natural hazards, and the lives and research of professionals who have contributed significantly to the research of hazardous events. Strong pedagogical tools reinforce the text's core features: Chapter structure and design organizes the material into three major sections to help students learn, digest, and review learning objectives.

This book examines how to ensure that the preventive measures are worthwhile and effective, and how people can make decisions individually and collectively at different levels of government.

Chapters: real world constraints to implementing hazard adjustments; trends for improving recovery and reconstruction following disasters; innovative dissemination; politics and disasters; partnerships for seismic zonation; engineering, codes, standards, and control and protection works; new directions for prediction, forecast, warning, and planning; mitigation: how to evaluate effectiveness; gender and disaster response; challenges facing health care delivery following disasters; insurance; emergency preparedness and response; and public and private partnerships for hazard mitigation and emergency management.

The safety of the workplace is now a highly visible public issue. Many want tighter regulation to reduce worker risk; others find government intervention ineffective and costly. Viscusi develops a theory of individual responses to job hazards under conditions of uncertainty in this exploration of how well markets for hazardous jobs actually work.

Considers Federal, state, and private programs, to prevent radiation accidents to employees in atomic energy industry and examines workmen's compensation cases involving radiation injuries.