Rachel's Democracy & Health News #933  [Printer-friendly version]
November 15, 2007

ENVIRONMENTAL AND OCCUPATIONAL CAUSES OF CANCER: NEW EVIDENCE

[Rachel's introduction: The war on cancer, begun in 1971, has largely
failed. Today, 36 years later, one of every two men and 4 out of
every 10 women in the U.S. will get cancer at some time during their
lives. Now scientists are emphasizing the need to take a preventive
approach to cancer based on an understanding that cancer is caused by
multiple interacting factors and not single agents.]

A new review of recent scientific studies finds compelling evidence
linking cancer with specific exposures, namely:

** Breast cancer from exposure to the pesticide DDT before puberty;

** Prostate cancer from exposure to pesticides and metal working
fluids;

** Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma from exposure to pesticides and solvents;

** Brain cancer from exposure to non-ionizing radiation;

** Leukemia from exposure to 1,3-butadiene;

** Lung cancer from exposure to air pollution;

plus a variety of cancers from exposure to pesticides based on early
findings from the federal government's Agricultural Health Study.

The new report, titled "Environmental and Occupational Causes of
Cancer: New Evidence, 2005-2007," by Richard Clapp, Molly Jacobs and
Edward Loechler, synthesizes the recent peer-reviewed scientific
literature related to environmental and occupational exposures and
cancer.

This is the second report on the environmental causes of cancer by
Richard Clapp and colleagues. The earlier report examined 30 years
of scientific evidence documenting associations between certain
cancers and exposure to cancer-causing agents (chemicals and
radiation) in workplaces, schools, and homes. Both reports were
published by the Center for Sustainable Production at the University
of Massachusetts at Lowell.

This latest report emphasizes the multi-factorial, multi-stage nature
of cancer causation and emphasizes the need for a new cancer
prevention approach in the U.S., one based on an understanding that
cancer is caused by multiple interacting factors and not single
agents.

"No longer can we claim that one factor is more important than another
and no longer can we afford to have our cancer prevention programs
focus on changes in diet or tobacco cessation while ignoring the
occupational and environmental links," says Molly Jacobs.

The term "cancer" covers more than 100 different diseases. Devra
Davis's important new book The Secret History of the War on Cancer
makes clear that the U.S. "war on cancer," which was declared by
President Nixon in 1971, was misdirected from the beginning because it
never focused on the causes of cancer. Today -- 36 years later
-- one of every two men and 4 out of every 10 women in the U.S. will
get cancer at some time during their lives.

The two reports by Clapp and his colleagues, plus the important new
book by Devra Davis, taken together, blow the lid off the nation's
best-kept secret -- that a great deal of cancer is caused by routine
exposures to industrial poisons that citizens encounter every day in
their air, water, and food, and on the job -- and that the only real
hope for solving this problem is prevention.