© 1999 by Oxford University Press
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 91, No. 17, 1505A-1506,
September 1, 1999
© 1999 Oxford University Press
BOOK REVIEWS |
The Nazi War on Cancer
Robert N. Proctor. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press, 1999. 380 pp., illus. $29.95. ISBN 0-691-00196-0
Correspondence to: Eric J. Seifter, M.D., F.A.C.P., Johns Hopkins at Greenspring Station, 10755 Falls Rd., Suite 200, Lutherville, MD 21093.
If a book can be considered eclectic, then surely Robert Proctor's The Nazi War on Cancer will fit the bill.
Beyond the well-described mechanism of the Holocaust, the gruesome medical experiments, the forced sterilizations, and the euthanasia of people with mental and physical disabilities, we discover health reforms initiated by the Nazis to prevent cancer that were decades ahead of their time.
The world's strongest antismoking campaign was fought, then as now, by the tobacco companies. This goal to eradicate cigarette smoking was derived from the first proof anywhere by German epidemiologists that smoking was the main cause of lung cancer. Until now, these astonishing facts have been lost from the chronicle of cancer research in the 20th century. Hitler's government also promoted progressive public health measures, including restrictions on pesticides and asbestos, monitoring and limiting exposure to radiation, and regulation of food dyes. A healthy vegetarian diet, limiting meat and fat, was an integral part of the National Socialists health propaganda.
Of course, the source of these progressive health policies came from the same perverted ideology that spawned the Holocaust: the goal of a sanitary racial utopia populated by fit and long-lived Germans. One can easily imagine support for these reforms coming from both the academic community as well as from the health-conscious public. The perception of the Nazi movement as purely evil does not explain the easy seduction of the German people. Clearly, some elements must have been appealing.
For those with an interest in cancer epidemiology or in public health policy, I recommend this book, which will provide a unique perspective on a "lost" historic archive of information. Those readers who are intrigued by eclectic topics will not be disappointed.
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