The war on cancer, according to investigative reporter and community activist Liane Clorfene-Casten, seems to be a losing battle--badly waged and severely mismanaged. Tracking how companies create the very toxins that cause cancer and then profit from the "cures" they peddle, Clorfene-Casten takes to task the government, the American Cancer Society, and various corporate giants to craft a chilling report on the big business that breast cancer has become.
Why has the focus been on cures rather than prevention? Clorfene-Casten concludes that, as a result of this improper focus, the population has been brainwashed and businesses have--quite literally--gotten away with murder. "Those who will profit," Clorfene-Casten states, "include chemical companies that make not only the cancer-causing pesticides but also the chemotherapy drugs used to fight cancer. Others are major cancer research centers whose well-connected directors shape the national dialogue on cancer." Breast Cancer educates its readers about the scourge of breast cancer as it relates to environmental pollution, even as it encourages us to regard the disease as preventable. The argument is made compellingly through the actual and composite experiences of individual patients, resulting in a powerful indictment against business, government, and research institutions.
Hers is not a popular stance, but it is a brave one. Clorfene-Casten's vigilance to the ethical issues that underlie Breast Cancer: Poisons, Profits and Prevention have caused this uncompromising book to be called breast cancer's Silent Spring.
