Steingraber,
S 1997. Living
Downstream. An ecologist looks at cancer and the environment.
Merloyd Lawrence; Addison Wesley.
This powerfully written book examines the intimate relationship between contamination and cancer, as seen through the eyes of a Ph.D. trained biologist, herself the victim of cancer. With remarkable effectiveness, Steingraber uses her strong literary skills and deep scientific understanding of biology, health, contamination and cancer to make tough issues--both scientific and personal--accessible and understandable. "As the daughter of a World War II veteran, I am grateful that my father did not die in a typhyus epidemic in Naples. But as a survivor of cancer, as a native of Tazewell County, and as a member of the most poisoned generation to come of adult age, I am sorry that cooler heads did not prevail in the calm prosperity of peacetime, when careful consideration and a longer view on public health were once again permissible and necessary. I am sorry that no one asked, "Is this the industrial path we want to continue along? Is the the most reasonable way to rid our dogs of fleas and our trees of gypsy moths? Is this the safest material for a baby's pacifier or a tub of margarine?" Or that those who did as such questions were not heard." ... "Taped above my desk are graphs showing the U.S. annual production of synthetic chemicals. I keep them here to make visible a phenomenon I was born in the midst of but am too young to recall firsthand. The first consists of several lines, each representing the manufacture of a single substance. One line is benzene, the human carcinogen known to cause leukemia and suspected of playing a role in multiple myleoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Another is perchloroethylene, the probable human carcinogen used to dry-clean clothes. A third represents production of vinyl chloride, a known cause of angiosarcoma and a possible breast carcinogen. They all look like ski slopes. After 1940, the lines begin to rise significantly and then shoot upward after 1960." ... "Studying cancer time trends is like ascending a glacial moraine in central Illinois. The rise is gradual, steady, and real. What seems imperceptible from the ground--percentage changes that unfold over miles or over decades--is plainly revealed by graphs of the data. In regard to cancer incidence in the United States, we are, in fact, walking on a sloping landscape." |
