Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Health and Society, 9th Edition

Taking Sides volumes present current controversial issues in a debate-style format designed to stimulate student interest and develop critical thinking skills. Each issue is thoughtfully framed with an issue summary, an issue introduction, and a postscript or challenge questions. Taking Sides readers feature an annotated listing of selected World Wide Web sites. An online Instructor’s Resource Guide with testing material is available for each volume. Using Taking Sides in the Classroom is also an excellent instructor resource. Cover page......Page 1 Title Page ......Page 4 Copyright Page ......Page 5 Preface......Page 8 Correlation Guide......Page 18 Introduction......Page 20 Contents In Brief......Page 10 Contents (with page links)......Page 11 UNIT 1 THE HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY......Page 26 Issue 1. Should the United States Adopt a Single-Payer Plan to Fund National Health Insurance? ......Page 27 YES: Physicians for a National Health Program, from “Proposal of the Physicians’ Working Group for Single Payer National Health Insurance,” (2006). http://www.pnhp.org/......Page 29 NO: Ezekiel J. Emanuel, from “The Problem with Single-Payer Plans,” Hastings Center Report (January–February 2008)......Page 33 Issue 2. Should Life-Sustaining Medical Care Be Rationed Based on Age?......Page 41 YES: Clare M. Clarke, from “Rationing Scarce Life-Sustaining Resources on the Basis of Age,” Journal of Advanced Nursing (September 2001)......Page 43 NO: Norman G. Levinsky, from “Can We Afford Medical Care for Alice C?” The Lancet (December 1998) ......Page 52 Issue 3. Is the Pharmaceutical Industry Responsible for the High Cost of Prescription Drugs?......Page 59 YES: Christopher F. Koller, from “Prescription for Trouble: Why Drug Prices Keep Exploding,” Commonweal ( June 15, 2001)......Page 61 NO: Peter W. Huber, from “Of Pills and Profits: In Defense of Big Pharma,” Commentary ( July/August 2006)......Page 68 UNIT 2 HEALTH AND SOCIETY......Page 82 Issue 4. Is Drug Testing Vital to the Workplace? ......Page 83 YES: William F. Current, from “Cut Costs and Increase Safety with Pre-Employment Drug Testing,” Occupational Hazards ( July 2002)......Page 85 NO: Jacob Sullum, from “Urine—or You’re Out: Drug Testing Is Invasive, Insulting, and Generally Irrelevant to Job Performance. Why Do So Many Companies Insist on It?” Reason (November 2002)......Page 89 Issue 5. Should Doctors Ever Help Terminally Ill Patients to Commit Suicide?......Page 102 YES: Richard T. Hull, from “The Case for Physician-Assisted Suicide,” Free Inquiry (Spring 2003)......Page 104 NO: Margaret Somerville, from “The Case Against: Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide,” Free Inquiry (Spring 2003)......Page 108 Issue 6. Should the Government Regulate the Sale, Advertisement, and Distribution of Junk Food?......Page 115 YES: Marion Nestle and Michael F. Jacobson, from “Halting the Obesity Epidemic: A Public Health Policy Approach,” Public Health Reports (January/February 2000)......Page 117 NO: Michelle Cottle, from “Heavy Duty—The War on Tobacco Becomes the War on Fat,” The New Republic (May 13, 2002)......Page 134 Issue 7. Should Doctors Prescribe Drugs Based on Race?......Page 142 YES: Sally Satel, from “I am a Racially Profiling Doctor,” The New York Times Magazine (May 5, 2002)......Page 144 NO: Gregory Michael Dorr and David S. Jones, from “Facts and Fiction: BiDil and the Resurgence of Racial Medicine,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics (Fall 2008)......Page 149 Issue 8. Should Embryonic Stem Cell Research Be Permitted?......Page 159 YES: Jeffrey Hart, from “NR on Stem Cells: The Magazine Is Wrong,” National Review (April 19, 2004)......Page 161 NO: Ramesh Ponnuru, from “NR on Stem Cells: The Magazine Is Right,” National Review (April 19, 2004)......Page 164 UNIT 3 MIND-BODY RELATIONSHIP......Page 170 Issue 9. Should Addiction to Drugs Be Labeled a Brain Disease?......Page 171 YES: Alan I. Leshner, from “Addiction Is a Brain Disease,” Issues in Science and Technology (Spring 2001)......Page 173 NO: Sally L. Satel, from “The Fallacies of No-Fault Addiction,” The Public Interest (Winter 1999)......Page 180 Issue 10. Do Religion and Prayer Benefit Health?......Page 193 YES: Gregg Easterbrook, from “Is Religion Good for Your Health?” The New Republic (July 19 & 26, 1999)......Page 195 NO: Michael Shermer, from “Prayer and Healing: The Verdict Is in and the Results Are Null,” Skeptic (vol. 12, no. 3, 2006)......Page 201 UNIT 4 SEXUALITY AND GENDER ISSUES......Page 208 Issue 11. Is It Necessary for Pregnant Women to Completely Abstain from All Alcoholic Beverages?......Page 209 YES: Phyllida Brown, from “Drinking for Two,” New Scientist ( July 1, 2006)......Page 211 NO: Julia Moskin, from “The Weighty Responsibility of Drinking for Two,” The New York Times (November 29, 2006)......Page 216 Issue 12. Should Pro-Life Health Providers Be Allowed to Deny Prescriptions on the Basis of Conscience?......Page 222 YES: John A. Menges, from “Public Hearing on HB4346 Before the House State Government Administration Committee,” Illinois House State Government Administration Committee (February 15, 2006)......Page 224 NO: R. Alta Charo, from “The Celestial Fire of Conscience— Refusing to Deliver Medical Care,” New England Journal of Medicine ( June 16, 2005)......Page 227 Issue 13. Should the Cervical Cancer Vaccine for Girls Be Compulsory?......Page 233 YES: Cynthia Dailard, from “Achieving Universal Vaccination Against Cervical Cancer in the United States: The Need and the Means,” Guttmacher Policy Review (Fall 2006)......Page 235 NO: Gail Javitt, Deena Berkowitz, and Lawrence O. Gostin, from “Assessing Mandatory HPV Vaccination: Who Should Call the Shots?” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics (Summer 2008)......Page 242 Issue 14. Is There a Post-Abortion Syndrome?......Page 262 YES: Ian Gentles, from “Poor God-Crazed Rhonda: Daring to Challenge the ‘Scientific’ Consensus,” The Human Life Review (Spring 2007)......Page 264 NO: Emily Bazelon, from “Is There a Post-Abortion Syndrome?” The New York Times Magazine ( January 21, 2007)......Page 270 UNIT 5 PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUES......Page 288 Issue 15. Is There a Link Between Vaccination and Autism?......Page 289 YES: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from “Deadly Immunity,” Rolling Stone ( June 30–July 14, 2005)......Page 291 NO: Matthew Normand and Jessee Dallery, from “Mercury Rising: Exposing the Vaccine-Autism Myth,” Skeptic, (vol. 13, no. 3, 2007)......Page 301 Issue 16. Does Anabolic Steroid Use Cause Serious Health Problems for Athletes?......Page 311 YES: Glenn Cook, from “Steroids: Shortcut to Tragedy,” American School Board Journal (August 2004)......Page 313 NO: Dayn Perry, from “Pumped-Up Hysteria: Forget the Hype. Steroids Aren’t Wrecking Professional Baseball,” Reason (January 2003)......Page 321 Issue 17. Will Global Warming Negatively Impact Human Health?......Page 333 YES: Carl Bloice and Conn Hallinan, from “Global Warming,” California Nurse (December 2005)......Page 335 NO: Indur M. Goklany, from “Stop the Panic on Climate Change,” USA Today Magazine (May 2008)......Page 342 Issue 18. Is Breast-feeding the Best Way to Feed Babies?......Page 352 YES: Pat Thomas, from “Suck on This,” The Ecologist (May 2006)......Page 354 NO: Hanna Rosin, from “The Case Against Breast-feeding,” The Atlantic (April 2009)......Page 370 UNIT 6 CONSUMER HEALTH......Page 382 Issue 19. Is It Safe to Consume Genetically Engineered Foods?......Page 383 YES: Henry I. Miller and Gregory Conko, from “Scary Food,” Policy Review (June/July 2006)......Page 385 NO: Mark Schapiro, from “Sowing Disaster: How Genetically Engineered American Corn Has Altered the Global Landscape,” The Nation (October 28, 2002)......Page 393 Issue 20. Does Obesity Cause a Decline in Life Expectancy?......Page 408 YES: Samuel H. Preston, from “Deadweight? The Influence of Obesity on Longevity,” New England Journal of Medicine (March 17, 2005)......Page 410 NO: Paul Campos, from “The Weighting Game: Why Being Fat Isn’t Bad for You,” The New Republic (January 13, 2003)......Page 414 Contributors......Page 424 Cover page 1 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Preface 8 Correlation Guide 18 Introduction 20 Contents In Brief 10 Contents (with page links) 11 UNIT 1 THE HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY 26 Issue 1. Should the United States Adopt a Single-Payer Plan to Fund National Health Insurance? 27 YES: Physicians for a National Health Program, from “Proposal of the Physicians’ Working Group for Single Payer National Health Insurance,” (2006). http://www.pnhp.org/ 29 NO: Ezekiel J. Emanuel, from “The Problem with Single-Payer Plans,” Hastings Center Report (January–February 2008) 33 Issue 2. Should Life-Sustaining Medical Care Be Rationed Based on Age? 41 YES: Clare M. Clarke, from “Rationing Scarce Life-Sustaining Resources on the Basis of Age,” Journal of Advanced Nursing (September 2001) 43 NO: Norman G. Levinsky, from “Can We Afford Medical Care for Alice C?” The Lancet (December 1998) 52 Issue 3. Is the Pharmaceutical Industry Responsible for the High Cost of Prescription Drugs? 59 YES: Christopher F. Koller, from “Prescription for Trouble: Why Drug Prices Keep Exploding,” Commonweal ( June 15, 2001) 61 NO: Peter W. Huber, from “Of Pills and Profits: In Defense of Big Pharma,” Commentary ( July/August 2006) 68 UNIT 2 HEALTH AND SOCIETY 82 Issue 4. Is Drug Testing Vital to the Workplace? 83 YES: William F. Current, from “Cut Costs and Increase Safety with Pre-Employment Drug Testing,” Occupational Hazards ( July 2002) 85 NO: Jacob Sullum, from “Urine—or You’re Out: Drug Testing Is Invasive, Insulting, and Generally Irrelevant to Job Performance. Why Do So Many Companies Insist on It?” Reason (November 2002) 89 Issue 5. Should Doctors Ever Help Terminally Ill Patients to Commit Suicide? 102 YES: Richard T. Hull, from “The Case for Physician-Assisted Suicide,” Free Inquiry (Spring 2003) 104 NO: Margaret Somerville, from “The Case Against: Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide,” Free Inquiry (Spring 2003) 108 Issue 6. Should the Government Regulate the Sale, Advertisement, and Distribution of Junk Food? 115 YES: Marion Nestle and Michael F. Jacobson, from “Halting the Obesity Epidemic: A Public Health Policy Approach,” Public Health Reports (January/February 2000) 117 NO: Michelle Cottle, from “Heavy Duty—The War on Tobacco Becomes the War on Fat,” The New Republic (May 13, 2002) 134 Issue 7. Should Doctors Prescribe Drugs Based on Race? 142 YES: Sally Satel, from “I am a Racially Profiling Doctor,” The New York Times Magazine (May 5, 2002) 144 NO: Gregory Michael Dorr and David S. Jones, from “Facts and Fiction: BiDil and the Resurgence of Racial Medicine,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics (Fall 2008) 149 Issue 8. Should Embryonic Stem Cell Research Be Permitted? 159 YES: Jeffrey Hart, from “NR on Stem Cells: The Magazine Is Wrong,” National Review (April 19, 2004) 161 NO: Ramesh Ponnuru, from “NR on Stem Cells: The Magazine Is Right,” National Review (April 19, 2004) 164 UNIT 3 MIND-BODY RELATIONSHIP 170 Issue 9. Should Addiction to Drugs Be Labeled a Brain Disease? 171 YES: Alan I. Leshner, from “Addiction Is a Brain Disease,” Issues in Science and Technology (Spring 2001) 173 NO: Sally L. Satel, from “The Fallacies of No-Fault Addiction,” The Public Interest (Winter 1999) 180 Issue 10. Do Religion and Prayer Benefit Health? 193 YES: Gregg Easterbrook, from “Is Religion Good for Your Health?” The New Republic (July 19 & 26, 1999) 195 NO: Michael Shermer, from “Prayer and Healing: The Verdict Is in and the Results Are Null,” Skeptic (vol. 12, no. 3, 2006) 201 UNIT 4 SEXUALITY AND GENDER ISSUES 208 Issue 11. Is It Necessary for Pregnant Women to Completely Abstain from All Alcoholic Beverages? 209 YES: Phyllida Brown, from “Drinking for Two,” New Scientist ( July 1, 2006) 211 NO: Julia Moskin, from “The Weighty Responsibility of Drinking for Two,” The New York Times (November 29, 2006) 216 Issue 12. Should Pro-Life Health Providers Be Allowed to Deny Prescriptions on the Basis of Conscience? 222 YES: John A. Menges, from “Public Hearing on HB4346 Before the House State Government Administration Committee,” Illinois House State Government Administration Committee (February 15, 2006) 224 NO: R. Alta Charo, from “The Celestial Fire of Conscience— Refusing to Deliver Medical Care,” New England Journal of Medicine ( June 16, 2005) 227 Issue 13. Should the Cervical Cancer Vaccine for Girls Be Compulsory? 233 YES: Cynthia Dailard, from “Achieving Universal Vaccination Against Cervical Cancer in the United States: The Need and the Means,” Guttmacher Policy Review (Fall 2006) 235 NO: Gail Javitt, Deena Berkowitz, and Lawrence O. Gostin, from “Assessing Mandatory HPV Vaccination: Who Should Call the Shots?” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics (Summer 2008) 242 Issue 14. Is There a Post-Abortion Syndrome? 262 YES: Ian Gentles, from “Poor God-Crazed Rhonda: Daring to Challenge the ‘Scientific’ Consensus,” The Human Life Review (Spring 2007) 264 NO: Emily Bazelon, from “Is There a Post-Abortion Syndrome?” The New York Times Magazine ( January 21, 2007) 270 UNIT 5 PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUES 288 Issue 15. Is There a Link Between Vaccination and Autism? 289 YES: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from “Deadly Immunity,” Rolling Stone ( June 30–July 14, 2005) 291 NO: Matthew Normand and Jessee Dallery, from “Mercury Rising: Exposing the Vaccine-Autism Myth,” Skeptic, (vol. 13, no. 3, 2007) 301 Issue 16. Does Anabolic Steroid Use Cause Serious Health Problems for Athletes? 311 YES: Glenn Cook, from “Steroids: Shortcut to Tragedy,” American School Board Journal (August 2004) 313 NO: Dayn Perry, from “Pumped-Up Hysteria: Forget the Hype. Steroids Aren’t Wrecking Professional Baseball,” Reason (January 2003) 321 Issue 17. Will Global Warming Negatively Impact Human Health? 333 YES: Carl Bloice and Conn Hallinan, from “Global Warming,” California Nurse (December 2005) 335 NO: Indur M. Goklany, from “Stop the Panic on Climate Change,” USA Today Magazine (May 2008) 342 Issue 18. Is Breast-feeding the Best Way to Feed Babies? 352 YES: Pat Thomas, from “Suck on This,” The Ecologist (May 2006) 354 NO: Hanna Rosin, from “The Case Against Breast-feeding,” The Atlantic (April 2009) 370 UNIT 6 CONSUMER HEALTH 382 Issue 19. Is It Safe to Consume Genetically Engineered Foods? 383 YES: Henry I. Miller and Gregory Conko, from “Scary Food,” Policy Review (June/July 2006) 385 NO: Mark Schapiro, from “Sowing Disaster: How Genetically Engineered American Corn Has Altered the Global Landscape,” The Nation (October 28, 2002) 393 Issue 20. Does Obesity Cause a Decline in Life Expectancy? 408 YES: Samuel H. Preston, from “Deadweight? The Influence of Obesity on Longevity,” New England Journal of Medicine (March 17, 2005) 410 NO: Paul Campos, from “The Weighting Game: Why Being Fat Isn’t Bad for You,” The New Republic (January 13, 2003) 414 Contributors 424 ISBN-10:,0078139449,ISBN-13:,978-0078139444 McGraw-Hill Higher Education/Dushkin