The Secret History of the War on Cancer

Overview

The War on Cancer set out to find, treat, and cure a disease. Left untouched were many of the things known to cause cancer, including tobacco, the workplace, radiation, or the global environment. Proof of how the world in which we live and work affects whether we get cancer was either overlooked or suppressed. This has been no accident. The War on Cancer was run by leaders of industries that made cancer-causing products, and sometimes also profited from drugs and technologies for finding and treating the disease. Filled with compelling personalities and never-before-revealed information, The Secret History of the War on Cancer shows how we began fighting the wrong war, with the wrong weapons, against the wrong enemies-a legacy that persists to this day. This is the gripping story of a major public health effort diverted and distorted for private gain. A portion of the profits from this book will go to support research on cancer prevention.

Editorial Reviews

Noted epidemiologist Davis (director, Ctr. for Environmental Oncology, Univ. of Pittsburgh Cancer Inst.) continues her effort to hold industrial polluters accountable for birth defects and miscarriages, environmentally caused diseases and premature deaths, and blighted environments and communities. As in her National Book Award-nominated When Smoke Ran Like Water, Davis outlines a shocking history of the unrestrained manufacture and distribution of toxic industrial chemicals, synthetic hormones, and tobacco products and the effort by artful public relations campaigns, skillful corporate lawyers, and complicit government agencies to conceal the brutal damages these contaminators cause. In addition to tracing the well-known manipulations of tobacco companies, Davis discovers that although scientists presented incontrovertible evidence of the dangers of asbestos and a variety of industrial chemicals at a 1936 international conference, decades passed and thousands died before U.S. companies were forced to protect their workers and consumers from these hazards. Davis writes with passion, driven by the conviction that premature deaths among her family members resulted from exposure to industrial toxins. Although better editing could have yielded a more focused narrative, Davis presents a powerful call to action; recommended for most libraries.-Kathy Arsenault, Univ. of South Florida at St. Petersburg Lib. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Author Information

Bio of Devra Davis

Devra Davis, Ph.D., M.P.H., is the Director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and Professor of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health. She was appointed by President Clinton to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board in 1994 and also served as Scholar in Residence at the National Academy of Science. She works in Pittsburgh, and lives in Washington, D.C. She is married to Richard D. Morgenstern and has two children and two grandchildren.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Basic Books

Filesize

5.21 MB

Number of Pages

528

eBook ISBN

9780786744206