Industry and Epidemiology: What Really Causes Cancer?

The "Secret History of the War on Cancer" by Devra Davis looks at the history of how the chemical industries have systematically worked to cause doubt about the role their products play in cancer. A review on Slate, clipped below, calls these chemicals "The New Cigarette."

clipped from www.slate.com Davis ultimately argues that in their doubt-sowing public-relations efforts, the chemical industry and others have cleverly manipulated the science of epidemiology, the study of health and disease among populations. Epidemiologists would be the first to admit that it is truly difficult to establish definitive proof that a given hazard causes a given cancer. But scientists and spokespeople for the chemical industries have gone further, using epidemiology's penchant for caveat to attempt to nullify a lot of very convincing data.