How much risk?

"How Much Risk? illustrates how scientists investigate controversial issues such as high rates of breast cancer attributed to pesticides, cancer clusters near toxic waste dumps and nuclear plants, and the recent worldwide increase in asthma. It explains in lay language the technical terms often appearing in news stories or government reports, such as statistical significance, ionizing radiation, and biological markers. It also describes how scientists distinguish a real cluster of disease from a chance event, the interaction of genetic predisposition and environment in disease, and how radiation can cause some types of cancer."--BOOK JACKET