Others join criticism of Obama Cancer Panel report

Washington-A May 6 report by President Obama’s Cancer Panel, Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk, What We Can Do Now, has drawn criticism from some medical professionals – in addition to The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) – for overstating the cancer risk posed by chemicals and other hazards in the environment. The 240-page report claims the cancer threat posed by environmental exposures has been “grossly underestimated” in favor of a focus on lifestyle factors and genetic and molecular causes, and refers to “a growing body of evidence linking environmental exposures to cancer.” Dr. Michael J. Thun, vice president emeritus with the American Cancer Society’s Epidemiology & Surveillance Research, faulted the report, however, for being “unbalanced by its implications that pollution is the major cause of cancer, and by its dismissal of cancer prevention efforts aimed at the major known causes of cancer.” Thun said that parts of the Cancer Panel report are “entirely consistent” with positions held by the American Cancer Society, including the risks posed by the accumulation of certain synthetic chemicals in humans and in the food chain, the large number of industrial chemicals that have not been adequately tested, and the possibility that some chemicals or combinations of chemicals may have effects at low doses. The report stumbles, however, when it “restates hypotheses as if they were established facts,” Thun said, and when it makes the charge that environmentally induced cancer has been underestimated. Thun said the report “reflects one side of a scientific debate that has continued for almost 30 years,” and risks trivializing “the importance of other modifiable risk factors that, at present, offer the greatest opportunity in preventing cancer.” The Fertilizer Institute issued a statement the same day as the report’s release (GM May 10, p. 1), taking issue with the report’s references to nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer. TFI said there was no scientific basis for the inclusion of fertilizer in the report, and that all major fertilizer products have been proven safe after rigorous testing. “Further, the references to fertilizer in the report … are contrary to the available body of literature which demonstrates that fertilizers have a positive effect on human health by enhancing the nutritional quality of fruits and vegetables,” TFI said.