Cover image for Scared to death : from BSE to global warming : why scares are costing us the Earth
Title:
Scared to death : from BSE to global warming : why scares are costing us the Earth
Personal Author:
Publication Information:
London ; New York : Continuum, 2007
Physical Description:
xiv, 494 p. ; 23 cm.
ISBN:
9780826476203
General Note:
Includes index
Added Author:

Available:*

Library
Item Barcode
Call Number
Material Type
Item Category 1
Status
Searching...
30000010263555 RA423.2 B66 2007 Open Access Book Book
Searching...

On Order

Summary

Summary

Modern society has regularly, in recent years, been gripped by a series of headline making "scares" - from mad cow disease to SARS -- which have become one of the most conspicuous and damaging features of our modern world. This book is the first to tell the inside story of each of the major scares of the past two decades, showing how they have followed a remarkably consistent pattern. It analyzes the crucial role played in each case by scientists how have misread or manipulated the evidence; by media and lobbyists who eagerly promote the scare without regard to the facts; and finally by the politicians and officials who come up with an absurdly disproportionate response, leaving us all to pay the price, which may run into billions of dollars. Scared to Death culminates in a chillingly detailed account of the story behind what the authors believe has become the greatest scare of them all: the belief that the world faces disaster through manmade global warming. In a final chapter, the authors take on its proponents such as Al Gore in a devastating critique of the consensus on global warming and its consequences.


Author Notes

Christopher Booker, the first editor of Private Eye, has since 1990 been a columnist on the Sunday Telegraph, where he has reported on all the scares covered in this book. His other books include The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories.
Dr Richard North was formerly a food safety consultant, involved in all the food scares covered in Part One of this book. After some years as a research director in the European Parliament, he is today a political analyst on eureferendum.com. His other books include The Great Deception, also co-authored with Christopher Booker.


Table of Contents

Acknowledgementsp. vii
Introductionp. viii
Part 1 The Food Scares
Prologue to Part Onep. 3
Chapter One Countdown to an Explosion: How Scares Became a Disaster Waiting to Happen, 1981-8p. 9
Chapter Two 'Killer Eggs': The Great Salmonella Scare, 1988-9p. 36
Chapter Three Enter the Hygiene Police: Paying the Price, 1990-4p. 69
Chapter Four 'Listeria Hysteria': The Lanark Blue Case, 1995p. 92
Chapter Five Mad Cows and Madder Politicians: The BSE/CJD Scare, 1996-9p. 100
Chapter Six Officials Can Kill: Meat, Cheese and E. coli, 1998p. 128
Chapter Seven The £1 Billion Blunder: The Belgian Dioxins Debacle, 1999p. 138
Epilogue to Part One: The Rise of the 'Health and Safety Culture'p. 153
Part 2 General Scares
Prologue to Part Two: The Millennium Bugp. 161
Chapter Eight A Sledgehammer To Miss The Nut: A Wider Look at the Scare Phenomenonp. 167
Chapter Nine The Modern Witch Craze: Ritualized Child Abuse, 1987-94p. 185
Chapter Ten 'Speed Kills': A Safety Scare That Cost Livesp. 209
Chapter Eleven 'We Love Unleaded': How Confusion Over Lead Cost Billionsp. 222
Chapter Twelve Smoke and Mirrors: How They Turned 'Passive Smoking' Into a Killer, 1950-2007p. 246
Chapter Thirteen 'One Fibre Can Kill': The Great Asbestos Scamp. 273
Chapter Fourteen Saving The Planet: Global Warming - The New Secular Religionp. 331
Chapter Fifteen Licensed To Kill: OPs - The 'Scare That Never Was'p. 410
Epilogue: A New Age of Superstitionp. 453
Indexp. 485