Name: FDL Book Salon Welcomes Nicholas Freudenberg, Lethal, But Legal: Corporations, Consumption, and Protecting Public Health - Shadowproof
Brand: shadowproof.com
SKU: shadowproof-com-10049
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

FDL Book Salon Welcomes Nicholas Freudenberg, Lethal, But Legal: Corporations, Consumption, and Protecting Public Health - Shadowproof

preview

Welcome () () and Host Pulitzer Prize winner &nbsp;()&nbsp;() () () ()Lethal, But Legal, Nicholas Freudenberg’s new book, raises important questions that are not on the radar of Washington DC, the mainstream press and therefore are not being pondered by most Americans. His book shows how the rise of virtually unbridled corporate power is damaging our health.At first blush that may seem absurd since automobiles come with air bags, air travel is safer than walking down the street and most of us assume the food we buy is safe to eat.In the last century we certainly have made great strides in lengthening life and its quality in later years. This is a story, mostly, of clean water, sewage treatment, pollution controls that reduce the toxic substances coming out of smoke stacks, engineering that reduces fire hazards in buildings and other broad measures. All of these are the work of government — of people acting collectively through the public institutions they created for their benefit and have the power to hold accountable if they vote.These public institutions are now in retreat as corporate power grows.Today, new health problems ail America, problems that markets alone cannot solve, as Lethal, but Legal persuasively argues. Instead, government action is necessary but will not occur until enough people demand it.Obesity has become epidemic. Heart disease is involved in about a quarter of deaths. Cancer kills nearly as many people. Diabetes has become a new scourge, especially in poor communities. Our murder rate by gunshot, as well as injuries from weapons, is a deathly shame. Life expectancy is actually declining for some groups of Americans, though few of us know about this.Some corporations perpetuate, encourage and profit from making and selling goods that cause these epidemics and illnesses just as surely as some viruses afflict human lives. And, of course, just as some microorganisms benefit us, so do some corporations. The issue is not corporations per se, but the rules under which we allow these privileged private institutions to operate.Some of these same public health problems afflict other affluent parts of the world, too. In the areas of the world where modern public health practices are sparse to nonexistent, misery is perpetuated unnecessarily, lives shorter than need be, Freudenberg shows and that misery is compounded by our failure to control corporate conduct.Nicholas Freudenberg’s book attributing these 21st Century problems to our failure to channel corporate power so that corporations do no harm, or at least do as little harm as possible, is sure to cause willful blindness in some.Just as pathogens induce illness, so do sound arguments induce in some people a refusal to deal with inconvenient facts. We live in a society where many people are paid very well to not notice that the emperor has no clothes. Our channels of information, both news and opinion, are predominately filled by modern courtiers, the corporate successors to those who fawned on the French kings whose parasitic draining of that nation’s resources ended in the late 18th Century on a notably sharp edge.I hope you read the entire book, but for now, in a nutshell, here is Freudenberg’s argument, taken from Lethal, But Legal with emphasis added:Every day, corporate managers make decisions about what products to make and&nbsp;how and where to market them. These seemingly ordinary choices, the lifeblood&nbsp;of our market economy, shape our environment and lifestyles so pervasively that their influence is all but invisible. But, increasingly, what corporations decide also shapes our patterns of health and disease. Today, the decisions made by executives and managers in the food, tobacco, alcohol, pharmaceutical, firearms, automobile, and other industries have a far greater impact on public health than the decisions of health officials, hospital directors, and doctors….Meanwhile, governments around the world have abdicated their responsibility for protecting public health by reducing their oversight of business, privatizing key services, weakening regulations, and making individuals more responsible for their health.So, Firedoglake members, join us in today’s salon. From reading Freudenberg’s work I can assure you as today’s host that whether your question is basic or nuanced, Nicholas Freudenberg will enrich your mind with answers as thoughtful as they are sure to be provocative.&nbsp;[As a courtesy to our guests, please keep comments to the book and be respectful of dissenting opinions. &nbsp;Please take other conversations to a previous thread. – bev]Shadowproof is a financially independent news organization. All of our funding comes from small donations made by readers like you.We use your donations to hire freelance writers and cover our operating costs. Monthly membership subscriptions give us the stability we need to make plans while ensuring our organization does not depend on grants or major funders. If you like what you read, support our writers with a donation today.&nbsp;

Welcome () () and Host Pulitzer Prize winner &nbsp;()&nbsp;() () () ()Lethal, But Legal, Nicholas Freudenberg’s new book, raises important questions that are not on the radar of Washington DC, the mainstream press and therefore are not being pondered by most Americans. His book shows how the rise of virtually unbridled corporate power is damaging our health.At first blush that may seem absurd since automobiles come with air bags, air travel is safer than walking down the street and most of us assume the food we buy is safe to eat.In the last century we certainly have made great strides in...

public

David Cay Johnston

Reader-supported journalism dedicated to exposing abuses of power in business and government. Founded by @kgosztola & @bsonenstein.

FDL Book Salon Welcomes Nicholas Freudenberg, Lethal, But Legal: Corporations, Consumption, and Protecting Public Health - Shadowproof

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS