Reviews" A well-written and detailed expose. . . A strident wake-up call." -- "Business Week" " Highly readable . . . [Hurley' s] crisp narrative will shock many Americans." -- "St. Louis Post-Dispatch "" An engrossing book [and] a much-needed corrective to the promotion of so-called natural treatments . . . ["Natural Causes"] deserves a wide audience." -- "New England Journal of Medicine", "A well-written and detailed expose. . . A strident wake-up call."-- "Business Week" "Highly readable . . . [Hurley's] crisp narrative will shock many Americans." -- "St. Louis Post-Dispatch ""An engrossing book [and] a much-needed corrective to the promotion of so-called natural treatments . . . ["Natural Causes"] deserves a wide audience." --"New England Journal of Medicine", "A well-written and detailed expose. . . A strident wake-up call."-Business Week"Highly readable . . . [Hurley's] crisp narrative will shock many Americans." -St. Louis Post-Dispatch"An engrossing book [and] a much-needed corrective to the promotion of so-called natural treatments . . . [Natural Causes] deserves a wide audience." -New England Journal of Medicine, "A well-written and detailed expose. . . A strident wake-up call."-Business Week "Highly readable . . . [Hurley's] crisp narrative will shock many Americans." -St. Louis Post-Dispatch "An engrossing book [and] a much-needed corrective to the promotion of so-called natural treatments . . . [Natural Causes] deserves a wide audience." -New England Journal of Medicine
Dewey Edition22
Dewey Decimal338.4/76151
SynopsisMore than 60 percent of Americans use herbal and dietary supplements, from Saint John's wort to vitamin E, fueling sales that total $20 billion a year despite a marked lack of evidence that these products are either safe or effective. Aside from extensive coverage of ephedra, the weight-loss supplement linked to the death of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Belcher in 2003, the media has been disturbingly silent about the danger posed by the natural remedies flooding the market today. Award-winning journalist Dan Hurley breaks the silence in Natural Causes. Hurley charts the shocking rise in deaths, disfigurements, and life-threatening injuries caused by supplements deceptively promoted as "safe and natural," and brings to light the backroom politics that led to the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, which essentially freed the industry from any FDA oversight. In unprecedented detail, he shows how the industry concealed the truth about dozens of untested treatments, from the placebo effect of supplements like echinacea and gingko to the adverse and even fatal reactions brought on by vitamins, Chinese herbal remedies, and supplements like bitter orange and L-tryptophan. Like Fast Food Nation, Natural Causes blends hard facts with harrowing personal stories and provides a hard-hitting, frightening look at an industry and a cultural trend that is out of control., This riveting investigation reveals the dark side of the herbal and dietary supplement industry and sounds a much-needed warning about the dangerous, sometimes deadly, effects of their highly popular and virtually unregulated products., A riveting work of investigative journalism that charts the rise of the dietary supplement craze and reveals the dangerous--and sometimes deadly--side of these highly popular and completely unregulated products. Over 60 percent of Americans buy and take herbal and dietary supplements for all sorts of reasons--to prevent illness (vitamin C), to ease depression (St. John's wort), to aid weight loss (ephedra), to boost the memory (ginkgo biloba), and even to cure cancer (shark cartilage, bloodroot)--despite the fact that few of these "natural" supplements have been proven to be safe or effective. The vitamin and herbal supplement industry generates over $20 billion a year by selling products that promise to cure or fix, but are produced and marketed essentially without oversight. And while the media has been quick to sensationalize the benefits of supplements, few have taken a hard look at the dangers posed by many of the remedies flooding the market today. Award-winning journalist Dan Hurley breaks the silence for the first time in "Natural Causes. " From the snake-oil salesmen of the early twentieth century, to rise of the health food movement in the sixties and seventies, Hurley charts the remarkable growth of an industry built largely on fraud, and reveals the backroom politics that led to the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, which effectively freed the industry from FDA oversight. In unprecedented detail, he shows how supplement manufacturers have concealed the truth about dozens of untested treatments and theshocking rise in deaths, disfigurements, and life-threatening injuries caused by products deceptively promoted as "safe and natural." Most importantly, he provides a telling look at why, in an age of unprecedented scientific advancement, we continue to buy and believe in remedies for which little evidence exists--and why the supplements we take to promote our health may be doing far more harm than good. As Hurley shows, the dietary supplement craze may be one of the greatest swindles ever perpetrated on the American public--one that feeds billions of dollars each year into the pockets of lobbyists, politicians, and any charlatan who wants to slap a label on a bottle and tout it as the next big "natural cure." Blending hard facts with spellbinding personal stories, "Natural Causes" is a must-read for anyone who has ever popped a multivitamin or an herb, and provides a hard-hitting, frightening look at a cultural trend that is out of control.