ABSTRACT
David Weatherall, currently director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine at Oxford, and formerly Nuffield professor of clinical medicine at Oxford, is one of Britain’s leading clinical scientists; Lewis Thomas, professor of paediatrics, pathology, medicine and biology and dean of two medical schools, enjoys a similar status in the USA. The discreet scepticism of these two eminent medical authorities regarding the central themes of government public health policy on both sides of the Atlantic indicates two things: that some medical experts question the scientific basis of this policy-and that this questioning has had done little to deter the rise of public health
promotion to become a major influence in modern society and in the everyday lives of its citizens.
