The Complete Guide to Preventing Cancer

This important book is a guide to understanding cancer and its causes. Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, a nationally known consumer advocate, explains in layperson's terms what the average consumer can do to reduce the risks of contracting this most feared of diseases.

For decades, Americans have assumed that cancer strikes in wholly unpredictable ways and that it is simply a matter of fate that one person is afflicted with the disease while another is not. Yet Whelan points to research showing that when it comes to cancer risks, we largely determine our own fates. Science has made great strides in recent years toward understanding the causes of this complex illness. As a result Whelan believes that we now have the knowledge to significantly reduce the incidence of cancer nationwide.

But how does the average person interpret the confusing array of warnings and suspicions regarding cancer risks, which are repported almost daily in the news media? Whelan goes to great lengths to separate the unproven hypothetical causes of cancer from reliable scientific findings. Above all, tobacco in all its forms and uses is the main culprit: estimates now attribute some 40 percent of cancer incidence to exposure to tobacco. Whelan also discusses other contributing factors such as diet, alcohol, radioactivity, sunlight, drugs, sexual behavior, environmental factors, and occupational risks.

Elizabeth M. Whelan, Sc.D., M.P.H., is president of the American Council on Science and Health.