Killer Commodities

Merrill Singer is a senior researcher at the Center for Health, Intervention and Prevention (CHIP) and a professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, as well as a research affiliate of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA) at Yale University.Hans Baer is lecturer in the School of Anthropology, Geography, and Environmental Studies and the Centre for Health and Society at the University of Melbourne

• Chapter 1 Introduction: Hidden Harm: The Complex World of Killer CommoditiesChapter 2 Stealthy Killers and Governing Mentalities: Chemicals in Consumer ProductsChapter 3 Nothing to Play Around With: Dangerous Toys for Girls and BoysChapter 4 The Environmental and Health Consequences of Motor Vehicles: A Case Study in Capitalist Technological Hegemony and Grass-Roots Responses to ItChapter 5 Lay Me Down to Sleep: SIDS, Suffocation, and the Selling of Risk ReductionChapter 6 Melanoma Whitewash: Millions at Risk of Injury or Death because of Sunscreen DeceptionsChapter 7 Building with Poison: Toxicity and CCA-treated LumberChapter 8 U.S. Health Care: Commodification KillsChapter 9 Silicone Seduction: Are Cosmetic Breast Implants Killer Commodities?Chapter 10 Selling Sickness/Creating Demand: Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Prescription DrugsChapter 11 Deadly Embrace: Psychoactive Medication, Psychiatry, and the Pharmaceutical IndustryChapter 12 A Guinea Pig's Wage: Risk and Commoditization in Pharmaceutical Research in AmericaChapter 13 Corrosion in the System: The Community Health By-Products of Pharmaceutical Production in Northern Puerto RicoChapter 14 Inverting the Killer Commodity Model: Withholding Medicines from the PoorChapter 15 Conclusion: Killer Commodities and Society: Fighting for Change

Singer and call for more consumer advocacy and less deregulation of industry, as well as a balance between regulatory agencies and industries. They point out that some industries may have too much oversight, that is, monitored by several agencies, which obscures jurisdiction.