The media constantly bombard us with news of health hazards lurking in our everyday lives. But many of these alleged hazards turn out to have been greatly overblown. Starting from the premise that health scares must be understood as "social facts," Geoffrey Kabat sheds light on a variety of factors contributing to the inflating of miniscule risks and emphasizes the importance of focusing on exposures and behaviors that have a palpable effect on health.

The Author

Geoffrey Kabat is a cancer epidemiologist whose research has focused on the effects of smoking, alcohol, diet, hormones, electromagnetic fields, and other factors. He has been on the faculty of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the school of medicine of the State University of New York at Stony Brook and has published over 100 scientific papers. Currently he is senior epidemiologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.