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Tuesday 2 December 2008

The Secret History of the War on Cancer

A very vicious circle

Jervoise Andreyev on the new book by Devra Davis

By the late 1930s, German scientists who ‘had trained many of the world’s greatest physicians and captured half of all Nobel prizes’ had clearly demonstrated the risks of smoking, such that pregnant women were barred from buying cigarettes, compulsory nicotine-withdrawal clinics were established for people with smoking-related diseases and smoking was banned on trains and in many public places. However, prolonged global conflict and an increasing ‘enthusiasm for industrial advances and the social and economic forces that lie behind them’, allowed the tobacco companies to bury this information, and the health of another whole generation was compromised before common sense (and science) again prevailed (but not yet in the developing world).

Dr Davis explains these parallels in her book and shows from a range of industrial and environmental toxins — asbestos, benzene, coal tar, DDT, dioxins, ethylene oxide, heavy metals, vinyl chloride and x-rays, to name but a few — how industry, politicians, scientists, the judiciary and doctors (yes, doctors) colluded to mask the significance of many industrial processes for health. The same systematic approach has been used by many different industries. The first step is to feign blindness to a problem induced by a chemical by making sure that no records are kept concerning the health of the workers handling the chemical in question (without data, there is no proof). The second step is to create evidence systematically which refutes any possibility of a problem. Then sponsor carefully designed studies in low-risk populations which will confuse. Then fund yet more studies to suggest that doubt remains even after the dangers are clearly defined. Finally, use litigation, political lobbying and confidetality clauses to delay publication of results for years or decades.

‘There are many ways of distorting scientific truth without actually lying’, says Davis, and marvels that there are so many clever men prepared to compromise their integrity to hide some of the truth. She shows how hugely charismatic figures have repeatedly used their personalities and the awe felt for their past achievements to persuade others to abandon appropriate research or preventative action which would have protected many from harm.

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