WHEN SMOKE RAN LIKE WATER

by Dr. Devra Davis

In When Smoke Ran Like Water, the world-renowned epidemiologist Devra Davis confronts the public triumphs and private failures of her lifelong battle against environmental pollution. By turns impassioned and analytic, she documents the shocking toll of a public-health disaster—300,000 deaths a year in the U.S. and Europe from the effects of pollution—and asks why we remain silent. She shows how environmental toxins contribute to a broad spectrum of human diseases, including breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and emphysema—all major killers—and in addition how these toxins affect the health and development of the heart and lungs, and even alter human reproductive capacity.But the battle against pollution is not just scientific. For Davis, it’s personal: pollution is what killed many in her family and forced the others, survivors of the 1948 smog emergency in Donora, Pennsylvania, to live out their lives with damaged health. She vividly describes that episode and also makes startling revelations about how the deaths from the London smog of 1952 were falsely attributed to influenza; how the oil companies and auto manufacturers fought for decades to keep lead in gasoline, while knowing it caused brain damage; behind-the-scenes accounts of the battle to recognize breast cancer as a major killer; and many other battles. When Smoke Ran Like Water makes a devastating case that our approaches to public health need to change.

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Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Is Doing to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family

by Dr. Devra Davis

Since the invention of radar, cell phone radiation was assumed to be harmless because it wasn’t like X-rays. But a sea change is now occurring in the way scientists think about it. The latest research ties this kind of radiation to lowered sperm counts, an increased risk of Alzheimer’s, and even cancer. In Disconnect, National Book Award finalist Devra Davis tells the story of the dangers that the cell phone industry is knowingly exposing us-and our children-to in the pursuit of profit. More than five billion cell phones are currently in use, and that number increases every day. Synthesizing the findings and cautionary advice of leading experts in bioelectricalmagnetics and neuroscience, Davis explains simple safety measures that no one can afford to ignore.

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THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE WAR ON CANCER

by Dr. Devra Davis

Newsweek named The Secret History of the War on Cancer its must read pick for the week of October 8, 2007

For much of its history, the cancer war has been fighting the wrong battles, with the wrong weapons, against the wrong enemies. The Secret History of the War on Cancer by Dr. Devra Davis shows, decade by decade, how the campaign has targeted the disease and left off the table the things that cause it—tobacco, alcohol, the workplace, and other environmental hazards. Conceived in explicitly military terms, the effort has focused on defeating an enemy by detecting, treating, and curing disease. Overlooked and suppressed was any consideration of how the world in which we live and work affects whether we get cancer. The result is appalling: over 10 million preventable cancer deaths over the past thirty years. This has been no accident.

Also selected as one of the best books of the year by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Toronto Globe and Mail.

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When Smoke Ran Like Water

“In the tradition of Rachel Carson, who exposed the harm done by DDT 40 years ago, epidemiologist Devra Davis is a hero with a nose for trouble. Her book, When Smoke Ran Like Water, is a testament to 20 years on the trail of environmental hazards, from the incidence of testicular cancer in the “clean rooms” of computer manufacturers to the still unknown causes of the breast cancer epidemic, to everyday hazards of breathing city air…. The beauty of this book is its ability to describe the business of epidemiology while keeping the human stories of the victims of pollution at the forefront.”
— United Kingdom Reviews, New Scientist, December 9, 2002

Muckraker: A scientist dredges up the truth about pollution’s effect on our health
— Time Out New York, November 28, 2002

“This is a must read. When Smoke Ran Like Water ranks on my smallest shelf of books that I thrust on friends, colleagues, and strangers alike. Devra Davis mixes passion, personality, and pollution studies in a compelling narrative that takes the non-scientific reader through an introduction to the highlights and history of environmental health. It will leave you wanting to know more and to take action… Davis writes beautiful and pungent prose. And I don’t mean ‘for a scientist.’”
— Physicians for Social Responsibility, Winter, 2003

“When Smoke Ran Like Water, rooted in a dramatic childhood experience, is a clarion call for immediate policy reform….”
— Johns Hopkins Magazine, June, 2003