Reveals how most often research findings have been misused, mininterpreted or misunderstood, resulting in flawed public health policy.
Madelon Lubin Finkel is Professor of Clinical Public Health at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. She serves as Director of the Office of International Medical Education as well as Director of Cornell Analytics Consulting Services at Weill Medical College. Health care policy and women's health issues are the focus of her research. She also authored Understanding the Mammography Controversy: Science, Politics, and Breast Cancer Screening (Praeger, 2005).
The intrusion of ideological concerns into science endangers public
health. In this well-informed and balanced account, Finkel
demonstrates that especially since the 1980s, scientific findings
have often been misrepresented to serve sectarian interests.
Avoiding polemics, especially in her discussion of the debate over
stem cell research, Finkel surveys several medical issues to show
how distortion of science for politically expedient purposes has
deprived Americans of health care often readily available in Europe
and Canada. The religious right and other conservative groups have
pressured politicians to erode women's reproductive freedom and
deny federal funding for needle exchange programs (for AIDS
prevention), and have made therapeutic marijuana unavailable to
those it would benefit. At the other extreme, conservatives'
protection of business freedom has left the food supplement
industry virtually unregulated. Finkel provides lucid explanations
of the public health significance of each topic she presents; then,
in language easy for laypeople, she details the surrounding
controversies and scientific findings. For most areas she
highlights, politicians and local officials have undermined
definitive scientific conclusions by yielding to emotional
rhetoric, e.g., the FDA's handling of Plan B emergency
conception--a form of birth control, not an abortifacient. This is
an important book that will benefit all reading audiences.
Recommended. All levels.
*Choice*
Madelon Finkel's compendium of essays on the influence of politics,
ideologies, and greed on science and public health spans a wide
range of topics, from breast implants to dietary
supplements….Overall, Finkel has succeeded in writing a
well-referenced book on politics, science, and public health
issues.
*New England Journal of Medicine*
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