The Secret History of the War on Cancer [Hardcover]

Devra Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2007

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

Review

Washington Post
“…Davis put it together in a way that illuminates the underbelly of medical research."

O magazine
"In her devastating, 20-years-in-the-making expose...Devra Davis... shows how cancer researchers, bankrolled by petrochemical and pharmaceutical companies, among others, collude in 'the science of doubt promotion.'...Davis diagnoses two of the most lethal diseases of modern society: secrecy and self-interest. This book is a dramatic plea for a cure."

Discover
“Davis’s new book, THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE WAR ON CANCER, is a wake-up call for all those who have accepted the poisons of our age of plenty without a blink.”

Lancet Oncology
“A feisty and highly accessible writer, Davis lays her cards on the table…a rattling good read and raises vital issues that remain relevant today.”

Booklist starred review
“…several big ACS [American Cancer Society] contributors, are heavily invested in keeping the public from becoming fully informed of the risks of myriad chemicals to which we and our children are exposed…Money, it seems, trumps all. Treatment and cures are hefty profit generators, and it’s expensive to change or eliminate the use of potentially toxic chemicals…Kudos to Davis for stepping up to the plate.”

The Times (Higher Education Supplement)
“The Secret History of the War on Cancer reflects the complex interaction of science, politics and society in the 20th century. I am left wondering how it will change in the 21st.”

Toronto Globe & Mail
“…easily the most important science book of the year…Each and every chapter in this book offers an uncomfortable revelation.”

Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Davis is excellent at following the money and fearless about naming names…With this work, Devra Davis has permanently reframed the ‘war.’ It should be required reading for those with cancer histories in their families. In other words, just about all of us.”

Cleveland Plain Dealer / Best 20 Books of 2007
“This searing book from a University of Pittsburgh epidemiologist lays out 35 years of medical greed and cowardice that left millions of Americans vulnerable to environmental and occupational cancer deaths. Countless political books attempt to influence the electorate, but this one stands out from the pack, demonstrating why money changes everything.”

New York Law Journal
“…compelling and well-written text moves from past to present to assess scores of contemporary workplace and lifestyle hazards, from cell phones to household cleansers to diet soft drinks, and makes clear that the law has been useless in protecting our health.”

New York Review of Books
“Joining this increasingly fractious debate with devastating force, Devra Davis, director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, claims that the war “has been fighting many of the wrong battles with the wrong weapons and the wrong leaders.” She calculates that these “fundamental misdirections” have thrown away well over a million American lives. Her aim in The Secret History of the War on Cancer is to deliver nothing less than a “reckoning” of this terrible toll.”

Library Journal
“…Davis writes with passion, driven by the conviction that premature deaths among her family members resulted from exposure to industrial toxins…a powerful call to action.”

Kirkus Reviews
“…a detailed history of workplace and environmental carcinogens that predates Nixon's "war" on cancer in the '70s. … fascinating reading as Davis reviews the tobacco story and describes conditions in steel mills, copper smelters, chemical factories and plastics plants, where workers are exposed to insidious and lethal solvents and agents such as asbestos, benzene, formaldehyde and dioxin. She also immortalizes the many poor people in small towns next to waste dumps or downstream from hugely polluted rivers who died from cancer or whose children suffered birth defects. In almost every case, the offending corporation lied, denied, delayed or bought-off complaints, recruiting the best legal talent and, sad to say, even highly respected scientists.”

LJExpress.com
“Davis writes with passion, driven by the conviction that premature deaths among her family members resulted from exposure to industrial toxins… The Secret History is a powerful call to action; recommended for most libraries.”

Lisa Heinzerling, Georgetown University Law Center, and author of Priceless: On Knowing the Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing
“Devra Davis has written a brave and brilliant book. It is a must-read for anyone who has ever wondered why we’ve spent so much more effort treating cancer than preventing it.”

David O. Carpenter, M.D., Director, Institute for Health and the Environment, State University of New York at Albany
“The Secret History of the War on Cancer should be read by everyone who believes that our governments have done an effective job of promoting our health.”

David Servan-Schreiber, author of The Instinct to Heal
“Devra Lee Davis writes with clarity, passion and unassailable precision. This book is fascinating blend of history, science, politics and medicine that reads like a novel.”

Lorenzo Tomatis, MD, Former Director, International Agency for Research on Cancer, World Health Organization
“With the mastery of a great writer Devra Davis takes the reader inside the successes, the failures, and the ambiguity of research on cancer.”

Teresa Heinz Kerry, co-author of This Moment on Earth
"A breathtaking, impeccably documented wake-up call for what we should have done and what we must do!”

Mitchell Gaynor, MD, President, Gaynor Integrative Oncology
“The Secret History of the War on Cancer is a masterful combination of scientific insights and investigative journalism. If you want to know why one in three Americans develops cancer, read this book.”

Nature
“A well-documented, prosecutorial account of the dark side of cancer-control politics…merits attention.”

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1 edition (October 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465015662
• ISBN-13: 978-0465015665
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.6 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #621,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 51 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The war on cancer is like the war on science January 14, 2008

By biogeek

Format:Hardcover

The purpose of this book was not to document how many people have died of cancer or any other ailment. This book shows that even when epidemiology and animal studies clearly demonstrated the carcinogenic properties of various chemicals that in many cases this data was conveniently forgotten (at best) and actively buried (at worst). Mr. Kaufman says that the war on cancer has always been about finding ways to treat cancer. Perhaps, but anyone who has watched someone suffer from cancer (and who hasn't) would likely agree that preventing cancer would be a much better way to fight cancer than to solely focus on treatment.

Why isn't prevention the focus of the war on cancer? The short version is because industry and government are working together to make sure the money keeps rolling in at the expense of everyone else. Davis cites examples of doctors and others who smoked and were in denial for decades about the fact that cigarette smoking causes cancer. Why? Because they either worked in the industry (and made money) or they simply didn't want to believe it. Just because you don't want to believe something doesn't negate overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

This book shows how industry and government buried information or failed to act to prevent thousands of cancer deaths. What is even more frightening is that this is still occurring. Very few chemicals are tested by EPA before being approved for the market. Phthalates and BPA are in numerous products that we all use every day. Not only are these chemicals possible carcinogens, but as is becoming increasingly observed in both animal studies and also in humans, they disrupt hormone signaling. This is particularly disturbing in developing male fetuses in which they can have feminizing effects that can result in male deformities and eventual reproductive difficulties. The government wants iron-clad proof before banning these chemicals, but I believe that in the face of current data, reasonable doubt should be the criterion used. As Davis' book makes clear, government will not act unless it is financially advantageous to do so. As products containing banned (in the EU) chemicals continue to be sold in the US, we and our children are becoming the guinea pigs in one of the largest chemical experiments ever conducted. The more the government censors scientists, alters reports and refuses to believe ever-increasing scientific data on the dangers of chemicals we slather on our skin every day (among other things) the less safe we will be and we can expect the cancer rate to continue to increase.

39 of 45 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Brave Book that Needs Wider Attention January 31, 2008

By H. Laack VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Devra Davis has combined history, personal anecdote and experience, and deep scientific knowledge and research to provide readers with a sometimes chilling view of where we stand in the "war against cancer." She is not afraid to name names of both individuals and corporations who have too often put profit above people. The frightening thing as one reads this is how current the continuing coverups and dissembling are; this is not the story of past misdeeds alone.

There is a lot of information here that needs to be much more widely disseminated and discussed. As we look to a new administration in 2009, this book will be a good one for voters and policy makers alike to read and use for beginning new ways of approaching some of the environmental health issues Dr. Davis raises. As she points out over and over, we need not only to work for better treatments for cancer cases; we need to work to eliminate those carcinogenic factors we can control. As long as factions pit tobacco against pollution against other chemicals, always pointing the finger away from their own actions, the "war on cancer" will continue to be too weakly fought.

Dr. Davis has provided a great service, but I have given this only 4 stars due to the need to tighten the writing of the book. Her history lessons were superb, but too many chapters jumped from one subject to the next without cohesiveness; sometimes I found myself having to go back a couple of pages to review the thread of a topic that she suddenly brought back into her narrative. A little more editing and this would be a standout five star book.

Nonetheless, read the book, buy a copy or two and pass it on to all those you know who are in or outside the field of medicine, whose family members have already been touched by cancer or, as is more and more likely, will be in the future.

28 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book in 100 years October 15, 2007

By Michael A. Scheurich

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

After 50 years of seeing cancer causing substances in the workplace and the environment being swept under the rug and causes of cancer being conveniently blamed on tobacco as a smoke screen by mega-corporations (blaming cancer on a person's lifestyle was used to avoid lawsuits). I am ecstatic to see this wonderful expose on how industry has kept the main causes of cancer under wraps and away from the public view and regulations. Working for a large oil company as their environmental chemist I finally resigned in disgust (if you don't record chemical caused illnesses there is no documentation that the chemical in question is hazardous)only to find I was blackballed from industry. I only have one correction to make in this excellent book exposing the cancer cover up of industry. In the first chapter Devra states that industry learned from the tobacco companies how to cover up the hazards of their products. This is wrong--industry had been covering up the hazard of their cancer causing products as soon as they found out they were hazardous--long before cigarette companies began their cover up and later in the 1970's tobacco became a convenient scapegoat for industrial airborne chemicals such as dust-born DDT and gasoline fumes found at the pump. I am amazed she got her books published. I hope she continues her crusade--She has saved thousands of lives by now by revealing to the public the hazards of industrial substances by raising public awareness.