From pathology to politics: public health in America

Abstract

Barely a day goes by without news of the latest health threat from the American media. Some of us are told we live in a cluster-an area with a disproportionate number of cancer deaths. During the summer months, those who live in or near urban areas are bombarded with daily smog measurements and air pollution alerts. City water supplies are frequently called health hazards. At times, it seems as though virtually everything we eat and drink is denounced as bad for us by some public health expert. Our cars burn too much gasoline; we own too many firearms; we are too fat; some of us are too skinny. Americans today are living longer than they ever have before. Why the almost daily announcements of new health threats and proclamations of impending crises? Bennett and DiLorenzo address this question and others here. They begin by examining the large health bureaucracy, its preoccupation with expanding governmental programs, and its concern with political issues that too often have little to do with improving health. Then they trace the evolution of the American health movement from its founding after the Civil War to the 1950s. They describe the transformation of health's focus from the eradication of disease to social policy as a by-product of the 1960s. Bennett and DiLorenzo catalogue the radicalization of the health movement by discussing its numerous political initiatives. They include case studies of the politicization of the health movement in America. The authors reveal various methods of statistical manipulation that certain health researchers use to cook the data in order to achieve politically correct results. A final chapter discusses the implications of the transformation of health from pathology to politics. This vigorously argued analysis sees the health movement as claiming expertise on virtually every social issue, from poverty to human rights. Students of pol