If you want to feel really totally manipulated, read the books by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, the guys who maintain PR Watch (http://www.prwatch.org): Toxic Sludge is Good For You, Trust Us We’re Experts, Mad Cow USA (which is downloadable from their web site). They’re journalists who look at how science and the press are manipulated to steer public opinion. The first two books above have some interesting and creepy historical accounts of lead in gasoline as an example. Scary stuff because you can see it happening today.

Totally unrelated to the above books is an interesting article pondering the physiological benefits of poisoning: http://www.discover.com/dec_02/featradiation.html