Misconceptions About Environmental Pollution, Pesticides and the Causes of Cancer
Table of Contents
- Executive Summary
- Clearing Up Cancer Misconceptions
- Misconception #1: Cancer Rates Are Soaring
- Misconception #2: Environmental Synthetic Chemicals Are An Important Cause of Human Cancer
- Misconception #3: Reducing Pesticide Residues Is an Effective Way to Prevent Diet-Related Cancer The Program in Action
- Misconception #4: Identification of Carcinogenic Chemicals Should Be the Primary Strategy for Preventing Human Cancer
- Misconception #5: Human Exposures to Carcinogens and Other Potential Hazards Are Nearly All Due to Synthetic Chemicals
- Misconception #6: Cancer Risks to Humans Can Be Assessed By Standard High-Dose Animal Cancer Tests
- Misconception #7: Synthetic Chemicals Pose Greater Carcinogenic Hazards than Natural Chemicals
- Misconception #8: The Toxicology of Synthetic Chemicals Is Different from That of Natural Chemicals
- Misconception #9: Pesticides and Other Synthetic Chemicals Are Disrupting Hormones
- Misconception #10: Regulation of Low, Hypothetical Risks Is Effective in Advancing Public Health
- Appendix
- Notes
- About the Authors
About the Authors
Dr. Bruce N. Ames is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Center, University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and was on their Commission on Life Sciences. He was a member of the National Cancer Advisory Board of the National Cancer Institute (1976-82). His many awards include: the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation Prize (1983), the Tyler Prize for environmental achievement (1985), the Gold Medal Award of the American Institute of Chemists (1991), the Glenn Foundation Award of the Gerontological Society of America (1992), the Lovelace Institutes Award for Excellence in Environmental Health Research (1995), the Honda Foundation Prize for Ecotoxicology (1996) and the Japan Prize (1997). His 400+ publications have resulted in his being the 23rd most-cited scientist (in all fields) (1973-84). BNAmes@UCLink4.Berkeley.edu
Dr. Lois Swirsky Gold is Director of the Carcinogenic Potency Project at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Center, University of California, Berkeley, and a Senior Scientist at the Berkeley National Laboratory 94720. She has published 85 papers on analyses of animal cancer tests and implications for cancer prevention, interspecies extrapolation and regulatory policy. The Carcinogenic Potency Database (CPDB), published as a CRC handbook, analyzes results of 5000 chronic, long-term cancer tests on 1300 chemicals. Dr. Gold has served on the Panel of Expert Reviewers for the National Toxicology Program, the Boards of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis and the Annapolis Center, and was a member of the Harvard Risk Management Group. Lois@potency.Berkeley.edu
