206 Chapter 9
movedtheseothercausesof deathfromthe equation,heartdiseaseand cancerwereleft
amongthe few remainingmajorcausesof death.
Further,mostof the increasein cancerfrom 1900 to 2007hadbeendueto many
Americanstakingup smokingin the 1950s.^31 Epstein’s insinuationsthatindustrialpollu-
tion instigatesmostcancersare pulverizedby the renownedteamof physiologistRichard
Doll(1912–2005)and epidemiologistRichardPeto(b. 1943).The two Richardsdeciphered
thatmanmadechemicals,includingindustrialpollution,accountfor 2 percentof cancer
cases.^32 Microscopicparticlesof syntheticpesticideson foodare responsiblefor less than
1 percentof the cases.^33 By contrast,of the yearlycancerdeaths,tobaccoanddietary
choices,respectively,explain30 percentand35 percentof cancercases.^34 A significant
shareof the remainderof cancercasesresultfromgeneticallyinheritableconditions.
Whenone factorsout smoking-inducedlungcancer,one findsthat the per-capita,age-
adjustedrate of cancerincidencehas overalldeclinedsince1990,^35 particularlystomach-,
uterine,and colorectalcancer.^36 To somedegree,canceris a risk thatcomesfrombeinga
multi-cellularorganism.As a multi-cellularorganism’s cellsdivideand its DNAis repli-
cated,thereis alwaysthe riskthatsomemutationwilloccurthatobstructsthe normal
processof DNAreplication.Suchmutationscan resultin cellsbecomingcancerous.This
is whycanceris foundnot merelyin humanbeingsbut in othermulti-cellularorgan-
isms—tracesof it are discoveredin sharkspecimensand in fossilizeddinosaurremains.^37
Theremightnot be a long-termsolutionto canceruntilscientistsachievemajorbreak-
throughsin geneticengineering.Thatwouldinvolveemployingsomemethodof “repro-
gramming” the DNAof a cancersuffererin orderto correctthe errorsin the geneticcode
andtherebysuppressthe tumors.Otherformsof biotechnology,by the way,shallbe
addressedin the nextchapter.
In any case,BruceN. Ames(b. 1928),whomI brieflyquotedin BookTwo,wrotein
1995 that “onceone has adjustedthe ratesfor age and smoking,” cancerdeathrates“have
decreased14 percentsince1950.Thetypesof cancerdeathsthathavebeendecreasing
since 1950 are primarilystomach,cervical,uterine,and rectal.”^38
Ames,a professorof biochemistryand molecularbiologyat the Universityof Califor-
nia at Berkeley,at one timeinadvertentlyassistedin producingthe late-twentieth-century
cancerhysteria.In 1973thisbiochemistdevisedwhatis famouslyknownas the Ames
Test.Thistest measuresthe degreeto whicha substanceis carcinogenic.It involvesa
scientistexposingthatsubstanceto a bacteriaculturein a Petridishandexamining
whetherthe bacteriabecomecancerous.Wheneverthe bacteriadevelopedmalignant
growths,Amesinferredthatthe substancein questionwasdeathlycarcinogenicto hu-
mans.Upondiscoveringsuchcancerousgrowthsdevelopingfromthe bacteria’s exposure
to synthetichairdyesandflame-retardantsin children’s pajamas,Amesaidedpublic
healthofficialsin theireffortsto ban thesesyntheticmaterials.
However,Ameslaternoticedthathis eponymousTestbeganto “prove” thatevery-
thingwascarcinogenic.He beganto suspecthis owntestof beingtoo sensitive.He
changedhis mind,explainingthatmostsubstanceson Earthcan becomea carcinogenin
too higha dosage.It is the dosagelevelthatdetermineswhethertoo muchcontactwitha
substancecan renderit toxic.Moreover,contraryto the vociferationsof organicvegetable
faddism,Dr. Amesascertainsthatwe haveyet to encounterconcreteevidenceof micro-
scopicparticlesof syntheticpesticides,andfertilizers,causinganylong-termnegative
healtheffects,let alonecancer,in the industrializedcountries.^39 We are exposedto dos-
agestoo smallto inflictsignificantlong-rangeharm.In Ames’s words,the “verylow
levelsof chemicalsto whichhumansare exposedthrough... syntheticpesticideresidues
are likelyto poseno or minimalcancerrisks.”^40 For you to ridea bicyclewithouta helmet
wouldbe actuariallylikelierto kill you thanfor you to eat, on a dailybasis,an applethat
has microscopicsyntheticpesticideresidueon it.^41