Avoidable Causes of Childhood Cancer

About the Book

The Increasing Incidence but Decreasing Mortality Rates Of Major Childhod Cancers, 1975-2009* SITE % Increase Incidence % Decrease Mortality** Overall 35 53 Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia 58 70 Bone & Joint 57 33 Brain & Nervous System 52 33 Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma 40 75 Leukemia 33 65 Kidney (Wilm’s Tumor) 20 0 * National Cancer Institute, Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results, 2011. ** The striking decrease in mortality reflects the National Cancer Institute’s success in developing pediatric clinical trial cooperative groups in 2000. (The Cancer Letter, June 8, 2012). Association with Congenital Defects Several childhood cancers occur so early in life that they must have originated during fetal life, or shortly thereafter.* These include acute lymphocytic leukemia, neuroblastoma,**and kidney and liver cancers. Cancer in the mother, particularly melanoma, can spread to the infant. * MILLER, R.W. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 40; 1079-1085, 1968. ** The author is a survivor of this cancer

About the Author

Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. is professor emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, and Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition, and former Congressional consultant. His awards include the 1998 Right Livelihood Award and the 2005 Albert Schweitzer Golden Grand Medal. He has authored 270 scientific articles and 18 books on the causes, prevention and politics of cancer, including the groundbreaking "The Politics of Cancer" (1979); Cancer-Gate: How To Win The Losing Cancer War (2005); and "Healthy Beauty" (2010). Dr. Epstein is an internationally recognized authority on avoidable causes of cancer in air, water, consumer products, and the workplace.