ABSTRACT
The policies and priorities of the cancer establishment are narrowly fixated on damage control—diagnosis and treatment—and basic molecular research with indifference, not always benign, to cancer prevention. The cancer establishment’s professional mindset and priorities are compounded by disturbing conflicts of interest, particularly for the American Cancer Society, with the cancer drug and other industries. The first line of defense against risks from avoidable carcinogenic and otherwise toxic exposures is an absolute prohibition of further increasing the burden of current exposures due to the authorization of new carcinogenic products and processes. Such a prohibition is based on the obvious “Precautionary Principle” that preventing new risks and following zero-risk policies are essential for public and environmental protection. The second line of defense against avoidable carcinogenic exposures is the reduction or phase-out of toxics in use in the wide range of petrochemical and other carcinogenic products and processes already established in commerce.
