American Document/ The Topic of Cancer
Ames, Sierra Magazine vs. Bruce
B ruce N. Ames, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of California, Berkeley, is a world-famous authority on cancer and carcinogens. In the fall of 1991, he was asked by...
...This is because high doses can cause chronic wounding of tissues or other effects that lead to chronic cell division, which is a major risk factor for cancer...
...Potatoes, for example, naturally contain fat-soluble neurotoxins detectable in the bloodstream of all potato eaters...
...Your essay was not among those we chose to include, though we passed no judgment on its contents in making that decision...
...With the bankruptcy of Communism, the world is hopefully on the path to democracy, free markets, and greater prosperity...
...Responses can be as long as 1,000 words—though we recognize that some very sensible prescriptions could be offered in as few as 100...
...While DDT was unusual with respect to bioconcentration, natural pesticides also bioconcentrate if they are fat-soluble...
...Yet these and many other environmental causes are based on weak or bad science...
...Approximately half of all chemicals—whether natural or synthetic—that have been tested in standard animal cancer tests have turned out to be carcinogenic...
...Ed...
...The reality is that the future of the planet has never been brighter...
...Solid evidence that storks bring babies...
...The fourth misconception is that synthetic toxins pose greater carcinogenic hazards than natural toxins...
...T here are tradeoffs involved in eliminating pesticides...
...By that I mean, our concurrence with an author's ideas was not a prerequisite to publication...
...Pollution is being blamed for global warming and ozone depletion,pesticides for cancer...
...Plants need chemical defenses—either natural or synthetic—in order to survive pest attack...
...commerce...
...The third misconception is that human, exposures to carcinogens and other toxins are nearly all to synthetic chemicals...
...If this exercise is something that appeals to you, and you'd like to take it on, we'll need your thoughts by January 1, 1992...
...Decreasing since 1950 are primarily stomach, cervical, uterine, and rectal cancers...
...Here we reprint Ames's contribution, along with the letters of invitation and rejection from Sierra's editor-in-chief Jonathan F. King...
...however, the age-adjusted cancer death• rate in the United States for all cancers combined (excluding lung cancer from smoking) has been staying steady or decreasing since 1950...
...Increasing are primarily lung cancer (which is due to smoking, as are 30 percent of all U.S...
...But it simply wasn't feasible within the context we set for this special issue, and I wanted to be sure you understood the rationale behind our decision not to publish "Science and the Environment" at this time...
...These documents first appeared in the autumn/winter 1992 issue of the Paris-based quarterly Projections, which noted, "In our opinion, the point of view of such an authority as Bruce N. Ames deserves to be known even if it is nonconformist and attacks preconceived ideas...
...An example of this problem is the public misconception that pollution is a significant contributor to cancer and that cancer rates are soaring...
...In my scenario for the future, I would like to see environmentalism based on scientific fact, directed at solving real problems rather than phantoms...
...A market for pollution rights is desirable—polluting shouldn't be, free—and is much more effective than a bureaucratic monopoly...
...cancer deaths), melanoma (possibly due to sunburns), and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma...
...Sincerely, Jonathan F. King Editor-in-Chief The Article: "Science and the Environment" / t is popular these days to espouse an apocalyptic vision of the future of our planet...
...I am writing to ask if you would like to be part of that effort...
...Since we have long found your thinking provocative—it challenges some basic presuppositions of the environmental movement—we hope to be able to share your ideas with our readers in the future...
...As life expectancy continues to increase in industrialized countries, cancer rates (unadjusted for age) also increase...
...These standard tests of chemicals are conducted chronically, at near-toxic doses—the maximum tolerated dose—and evidence is accumulating that it may be the high dose itself, rather than the chemical per se, that is the risk factor for cancer...
...Bruce N. Ames University of California Berkeley, CA 94720 Dear Dr...
...In the fall of 1991, he was asked by Sierra, a publication of the Sierra Club, to contribute to a special, centennial issue devoted to the theme "If I Ruled the World...
...Cancer clusters in small areas are expected to occur by chance alone, and there is no persuasive evidence from either epidemiology or toxicology that pollution is a significant cause of cancer for the general population...
...Thus, they are likely to pose no or minimal, cancer risks...
...Ames wrote the piece, but Sierra chose not to run it...
...One consequence of disproportionate concern about synthetic pesticide residues is that some plant breeders are currently developing plants to be more insect-resistant and inadvertently are selecting plants higher in natural toxins...
...A second misconception is that high-dose animal cancer tests tell us the significant cancer risks for humans...
...Consider this an opportunity to play "If I Ruled the World," an imaginative exercise whose goal is to achieve environmental serenity and security...
...our vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber come from plants and are important anticarcinogens...
...As well as offering your general scenario for the future, please be as specific as possible: name those whom you would empower, and those whom you would have pay penance...
...Science and technology develop in a free society, and free markets bring wealth, which is associated with both better health and lower birth rates...
...Of all dietary pesticides, 99.99 percent are natural: they are toxins produced by plants to defend themselves against fungi and animal predators...
...develop and distribute resources, or conserve them...
...Because each plant produces a different array of toxins, we estimate that on average Americans ingest roughly 5,000 to 10,000 different natural pesticides and their breakdown products...
...A major grower recently introduced a new variety of highly insect-resistant celery into...
...we have just sent that issue to press, and are now catching up with much postponed correspondence and other work...
...Space being at a premium—we received more contributions than we could possibly run, even when some were edited down—there was no question of running the piece uncut, at least in this format...
...On the contrary, the proportion of natural chemicals that is carcinogenic when tested in both rats and mice is the same as for synthetic chemicals—roughly half...
...All chemicals are toxic at some dose, and 99.99 percent of the chemicals we ingest are natural...
...We plan to present the thoughts of a wide range of individuals whose knowledge, experience, and creativity qualify them to answer the following question: Given that our planet faces a future that appears bleak if not terrifying, what steps would you take to ensure our survival for the next 100 years...
...The pest-resistant celery contains 6,200 parts per billion (ppb) of carcinogenic (and mutagenic) psoralens instead of the 800 ppb normally present in celery...
...High levels of these neurotoxins have been shown to cause birth defects in rodents...
...Regulate industries, or set them free...
...The sixth misconception is that conelation implies causation...
...draw geographical boundaries, or erase them...
...The fifth misconception is that the toxicology of manmade chemicals is different from that of natural chemicals...
...Letter of Invitation November 14, 1991 Bruce Ames Berkeley, CA 94709 Dear Professor Ames, Next year marks the Sierra Club's 100th anniversary...
...If that is so, I apologize...
...In May 1992, Sierra, the Club's national magazine, will publish a special Centennial issue that celebrates the past, surveys the present, and takes bets on the future...
...You may assume that you have the ability to direct the course of governments and institutions, and that you have the wealth, brains, and political support of the world's citizens at your disposal...
...In some cases we solved problems of focus by editing a contribution down, but in your case that clearly could not be done without doing damage to the arguments themselves...
...Humans have many general, natural defenses that make us well bufferedagainst normal exposures to toxins, both natural and synthetic...
...We look forward to hearing from you...
...At the same time, the German birth rate also has been decreasing...
...impose democracy on dictatorships, or vice versa...
...Ames, I fear that you have yet to receive a response from us to your inquiry about the status of the essay you sent us in response to our invitation to contribute to our May/June feature, "if I Ruled the World...
...Please include the biographical information you'd like to accompany your contribution...
...Thus, eliminating essential pesticides is likely to increase cancer rates...
...Huge expenditure of money and effort on tiny hypothetical risks does not improve public health...
...On behalf of our 600,000 readers across the United States and Canada, I hope we'll be able to include your vision in our Centennial issue...
...was in danger of being forgotten by the reader...
...On the contrary, the amount of synthetic pesticide residues in plant foods are insignificant compared to the amount of natural pesticides produced by plants themselves...
...DDT is often viewed as the typically dangerous synthetic pesticide...
...Our problem with your piece was more stylistic: We found the focus on pollution and pesticides far narrower than the sweeping prescriptions other contributors were making, such that it seemed at times as though the question ("How would you solve the environmental crisis if you ruled the world...
...plan our menus, our reading lists, and our births...
...there was no "litmus test" of ideological purity to be passed...
...Should you hold that our survival depends on successfully addressing just one or two key issues, feel free to offer your solutions in that light...
...Synthetic pesticides have markedly lowered the cost of plant foods, thus making them more available to consumers...
...By contrast, the FDA found that residues of 200 synthetic chemicals, including the synthetic pesticides thought to be of greatest importance, average only about 0.09 mg per person per day...
...Sincerely, Jonathan F. King Editor-in-Chief...
...Scientific advances and free markets can also lead to technologies that minimize pollution for the lowest cost...
...Cancer is fundamentally a degenerative disease of old age, although external factors can increase cancer rates (cigarette smoking in humans) or decrease them (eating more fruits and vegetables...
...The number of storks in Germany has been decreasing for decades...
...At the very low levels of chemicals to which humans are exposed through water pollution or synthetic pesticide residues, such increased cell division does not occur...
...The celery is still on the market...
...However, it saved millions of lives in the tropics and made obsolete the pesticide lead arsenate, which is even more persistent and toxic, although all-natural...
...Americans eat an estimated 1,500 mg of natural pesticides per person per day, which is about 10,000 times more than they consume of synthetic pesticide residues...
...Rather, it diverts our resourcesfrom real human health hazards, and it hurts the economy...
...Eating more fruits and vegetables is thought to be the best way to lower risks of cancer and heart disease other than giving up smoking...
...Bruce N. Ames Letter of Rejection March 27, 1992 Dr...
Vol. 26 • June 1993 • No. 6
