A01=Robin Wolfe Scheffler
afterlife
america
american
Author_Robin Wolfe Scheffler
biomedical
cancer
Category=MBX
Category=MJCL
Category=MKFM
Category=NHK
conflict
contagion
contagious
context
controversial
controversy
disease
doctors
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
failure
healthcare
historical
history
human genome project
laboratory
laws
legislation
leukemia
medical
medicine
memory
military planning
molecular
oncogenic viruses
philanthropy
policy makers
public health
retrovirus
science
treatment
united states
viral
virus
Product details
- ISBN 9780226458892
- Weight: 680g
- Dimensions: 18 x 24mm
- Publication Date: 15 Jun 2019
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Is cancer a contagious disease? In the late nineteenth century this idea, and attending efforts to identify a cancer “germ,” inspired fear and ignited controversy. Yet speculation that cancer might be contagious also contained a kernel of hope that the strategies used against infectious diseases, especially vaccination, might be able to subdue this dread disease. Today, nearly one in six cancers are thought to have an infectious cause, but the path to that understanding was twisting and turbulent.
A Contagious Cause is the first book to trace the century-long hunt for a human cancer virus in America, an effort whose scale exceeded that of the Human Genome Project. The government’s campaign merged the worlds of molecular biology, public health, and military planning in the name of translating laboratory discoveries into useful medical therapies. However, its expansion into biomedical research sparked fierce conflict. Many biologists dismissed the suggestion that research should be planned and the idea of curing cancer by a vaccine or any other means as unrealistic, if not dangerous. Although the American hunt was ultimately fruitless, this effort nonetheless profoundly shaped our understanding of life at its most fundamental levels. A Contagious Cause links laboratory and legislature as has rarely been done before, creating a new chapter in the histories of science and American politics.
A Contagious Cause is the first book to trace the century-long hunt for a human cancer virus in America, an effort whose scale exceeded that of the Human Genome Project. The government’s campaign merged the worlds of molecular biology, public health, and military planning in the name of translating laboratory discoveries into useful medical therapies. However, its expansion into biomedical research sparked fierce conflict. Many biologists dismissed the suggestion that research should be planned and the idea of curing cancer by a vaccine or any other means as unrealistic, if not dangerous. Although the American hunt was ultimately fruitless, this effort nonetheless profoundly shaped our understanding of life at its most fundamental levels. A Contagious Cause links laboratory and legislature as has rarely been done before, creating a new chapter in the histories of science and American politics.
