Book Review: Spring 1998
Reviewed by Sue Riedeman, ECHO Vice-President
When I saw the title of this book I imagined it to be a personal account of someone suffering with MCS. Who else would bother to write a book about the subject? I was surprised to learn that the author, Peter Radetsky, is a medical writer. I was even more surprised at the superb job he did examining all of the issues surrounding MCS.
Radetsky took the time to thoroughly research this book and spoke to many of the MCS activist across the country. He presented some horrific case histories including an excellent chapter on Gulf War Vets, and spent a great deal of time with several prominent MCS physician, such as William Rea, Doris Rapp and Claudia Miller. He not only interviewed these doctors, but took the time to thoroughly examine the science behind their treatments and theories.
Radetsky was even brave enough to delve into the politics of MCS; why the current research is not accepted, and why more research is not being done. He points out the connection between the chemical industry and the doctors who are working so hard to discredit MCS as an illness. There is a chapter devoted to the "it's all in our heads " theory. Radetsky makes no judgments as he presents the psychological approach to MCS, and yes this chapter is a bit disturbing, (one doctor goes so far as to compare MCS to a "cult") but it was interesting to learn the thought process that has led to the various psychological approaches to MCS.
Through Radetsky's research we not only learn about the science, we also learn about the people involved in the MCS controversy and the many trials and tribulations suffered by the MCS doctors, the ostracism and attacks from colleagues, the refusal to print articles in medical journals. Radetsky describes how difficult it was for the now famous Doris Rapp to put her name on the list of environmental physicians, and how she questioned her own sanity. How could she be right when everyone she respected in the medical community was telling her she was wrong?
Allergic To The Twentieth Century is not only a very clear and accurate account of the complex issues faced by MCS suffers, it is also very well written. Radetsky manages to meld humanity with science and we come out feeling as if we had actually met the people involved. Radetsky examines the idea that MCS may be a new model for disease that science has yet to understand. Through the eyes of various doctors, he explains historically how medicine has been resistant to change. Claudia Miller quoting German physicist Max Planck at a conference on MCS: "Science innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting opponents. What does happen is that its opponents gradually die out." Just maybe this book will contribute to new thinking about MCS and the need for valid research so we that MCS patients can out live their opponents.
[Editor's Note: Peter Radetsky is Discover magazine's contributing editor. This book is available in softcover from Book of The Month Club for $15.95 in the April book club magazine.]
By Dan Fagin, Marianne Lavelle, and the Center for Public Integrity
(Secaucus, N.J.:Carol Publishing Group, 1996).
Book Review: Fall 1997
Reviewed by Sue Riedeman, ECHO Vice-President
Dan Fagin and Marianne Lavelle, two investigative reporters who specialize in environmental writing, expose the secret world of the chemical industry and its ongoing pattern of deceptive practices. Toxic Deception follows the history of four chemicals: formaldehyde, perchloroethylene ((the dry cleaning chemical), and two herbicides, atrazine and alachlor.
Through extensive research the authors document how, despite mounting evidence of toxicity, the chemical industry is able to conceal the truth and keep these extremely hazardous and commonly used chemicals on the market.
Unlike medications that have to undergo extensive testing before they can be sold to the public, chemicals in this country are considered "innocent until proven guilty." You may be shocked to learn that the EPA rarely does its own testing, but rather relies upon the testing done by the manufacturer of the chemical. Fagin and Lavelle expose the numerous deceptive tactics used by the chemical industry to manipulate data and disguise the truth with their array of lobbyists, lawyers, public relations experts, and "cigarette scientists." In their chapter "Science for Sale", Fagin and Lavelle uncover instances of outright fraud where money wins over science, and dead rats are replaced with healthy ones.
By the time you have finished reading Toxic Deception, you will have a clear understanding of the inner workings of the chemical industry and just exactly what the chemically injured person is up against. Fagin and Lavelle reveal how little power the EPA has to regulate the 70,000 chemicals on the market and how change can only come from public outrage. When urea-formaldehyde insulation was banned the formaldehyde industry succeeded in getting the ban lifted, but by then people had learned of the hazards and refused to buy it. It is no longer produced because there is no market. Education is the key. Read this book and then give it to everyone you know!
[Editor: Dan Fagin writes for Newsday, the Long Island newspaper, and Marianne Lavelle writes for the National Law Journal.]