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« SMM: Green Gamer | Main | Envirohealth News: Claims for antibacterial soap go down the drain »

History of the war on cancer no longer secret

By Amanda

We here at Enviroblog loathe chemical waste. You regular readers may have caught that. Most people don't know enough about it, though -- about its sources and the nasty things it may be doing to our health -- to despise it as much as we do.

Part of that is because many in the chemical industry, like Big Tobacco before them, have made a living off of covering up incriminating documents and intentionally casting doubt on evidence that environmental toxins cause cancer.

Devra Davis wants to change that. Her book, The Secret History of the War on Cancer, aims to dispel myths and expose the realities of chemical exposure. From a review by Slate's Barron H. Lerner:

Davis' book reveals the barriers to changing the status quo. A strong indication of the hurdles that confront her hopes for reform is that her "secret history" is really not very secret at all—at least to anyone interested in the relationship of cancer to the environment. For almost as long as there has been a "war on cancer," there has been what might be called a "war on the war on cancer": a series of efforts to move beyond a sole focus on the detection and treatment of cancer (the standard war on cancer) to actual prevention of the disease.

Lerner seems doubtful that Davis' book will be the rallying cry that leads the masses against the chemical industry, but acknowledges that The Secret History is definitely a step in the right direction. It's true: it'll take a lot more than a book to scare the industry. But the first step is making the general population understand what's at risk, and Davis is on the right track.

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