From Publishers Weekly
Proctor estimates that former Presidents Reagan and Bush, by
dismantling and defunding occupational, environmental and consumer
product safety agencies, may have caused 600,000 additional cancer
deaths in the nation over 12 years. Professor of the history of science
at Pennsylvania State University, he mounts a devastating critique of
trade associations of the tobacco, meat, chlorine and asbestos
industries, which, in his view, co-opt scientific research to create
and exploit uncertainty over the carcinogenic risks of their products.
Next he disputes the notion, popularized by Berkeley biochemist Bruce
Ames, that natural carcinogens in foods pose a far greater health
hazard than industrial pollutants or pesticides. Noting that the
National Cancer Institute spends less than 3% of its budget on
anti-smoking efforts, even though 30% of cancer deaths result from
cigarettes, this forceful, scholarly study urges greater efforts to
encourage cancer prevention, including a halt to tobacco subsidies,
stiffer supervision of pesticides and federal support for alternatives
to petrochemical agriculture. First serial to Sciences.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Science historian Proctor discusses not only the war fought against
cancer but especially the several wars fought over cancer. He notes
several prominent, disturbing facts: despite 20 or more years of
heavily funded and widely proclaimed cancer research, cancer has become
the second-most frequent cause of death in the United States and other
developed nations; the five-year survival rates for most cancers have
not changed since 1972; and, alas, the incidence of some cancers has
increased. Despite widespread recognition that the principal causal
agents of cancer are environmental, conflicts over the causes and
prevention of cancer persist among scientists, between industrial
corporations and regulatory agencies, and between environmentalists and
manufacturers. The origin, persistence, and effects of these conflicts
form the central questions examined here. Proctor holds that cancer
research is often subtly and sometimes overtly affected by politics.
Why, he asks, has the so-called cancer establishment devoted far more
time and money to investigating the mechanisms of cancer than to its
prevention? This fascinating but well-documented book should be
profitably read by all informed readers.
James D. Haug, East Carolina Univ. Lib., Greenville, N.C.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
James D. Haug, East Carolina Univ. Lib., Greenville, N.C.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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