Book Review:
Cancer: 101 Solutions
to a Preventable Epidemic
UPdate Fall 2007

By Liz Armstrong, Guy Dauncey and Anne Wordsworth

It’s hard to imagine that a book could focus on the cancer epidemic and still maintain a tone of hope.

Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic somehow manages this balance - describing just how serious the present problem is, while illustrating that change is not only possible, but that it has already begun.

Authors Liz Armstrong, Guy Dauncey and Anne Wordsworth have succeeded in creating an engaging, inspiring and thought-provoking book about a very painful subject. Part One: The Global Epidemic, sets out the facts, demonstrating how widespread the cancer epidemic is. It looks behind traditional explanations to tell a broader story, and explains why a search for the cure can’t be the only response.
In part two, we find far more than 101 solutions – thousands in fact. There are solutions for individuals, parents, and youth, solutions for cities, labour, business and governments. Cancer: 101 Solutions showcases real life examples of communities which have taken action to identify sources of toxic pollution in their communities, corporations which have eliminated toxic chemicals from their products and governments which require substitution of safer chemicals for known toxins.

Throughout the book we are introduced to cancer survivors, and those who have not survived; youth, women and men who have left their legacy in cancer prevention. Among them is Andrea Martin, a breast cancer survivor who died in 2003. Her activism led to San Francisco becoming the first city in the world to adopt the precautionary principle, a model for other cities today.

The book also contains references to hundreds of relevant resources, including websites, videos, and organizations.

The message of Cancer: 101 Solutions is clear. Preventing cancer is not just a dream. Things must change. They can change. Whoever you are, wherever you work or live, there is something you can do to prevent cancer, and you will not be alone.

Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic is published by New Society Press, www.newsociety.com. It sells for $27.95 CAD. ISBN 978-0-86571-542-4

See excerpts from Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic

See also www.preventcancernow.ca

Cancer and lifestyle: looking at the whole picture www.environmentalhealth.ca/fall07lifestyle

Cancer and the animal world: Learning the lessons www.environmentalhealth.ca/fall07whales

Our Chemical Body Burden
www.environmentalhealth.ca/fall07bodyburden