A New War on Cancer

For more than fifty years, we have been waging, but not winning, the war on cancer. We’re better than ever at treating the disease, yet cancer still claims the lives of one in five men and one in six women in the US. The astonishing news is that up to two-thirds of all cancer cases are linked to preventable environmental causes. If we can stop cancer before it begins, why don’t we?

That was the question that motivated Kristina Marusic’s revelatory inquiry into cancer prevention. In searching for answers, she met remarkable doctors, scientists, and advocates who are upending our understanding of cancer and how to fight it. They recognize that we will never reduce cancer rates without ridding our lives of the chemicals that increasingly trigger this deadly disease.

Most never imagined this role for themselves. One scientist grew up without seeing examples of Indian-American women in the field, yet went on to make shocking discoveries about racial disparities in cancer risk. Another leader knew her calling was children’s health, but realized only later in her career that kids can be harmed by invisible pollutants at their daycares. Others uncovered surprising links between cancer and the everyday items that fill our homes and offices.

For these individuals, the fight has become personal. And it certainly is personal for Berry, a young woman whose battle with breast cancer is woven throughout these pages. Might Berry have dodged cancer had she not grown up in Oil City, Pennsylvania, in the shadow of refineries? There is no way to know for sure. But she is certain that, even with the best treatment available, her life was changed irrevocably by her diagnosis. Marusic shows that, collectively, we have the power to prevent many cases like Berry’s. The war on cancer is winnable—if we revolutionize the way we fight.

About the Author:

KRISTINA MARUSIC is an award-winning journalist at Environmental Health Sciences who covers environmental health and justice at EHN.org and DailyClimate.org. She holds an MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of San Francisco, and her personal essays and reporting on topics ranging from the environment and LGBTQ+ equality to politics, food, and travel have been published by outlets including CNN, Slate, Vice, Women's Health, The Washington Post, MTV News, The Advocate, and Bustle, among others. 

Kristina’s younger sister was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at 25 years old. Thyroid cancer usually runs in families, but no one else in their family ever had it, so Kristina began to question whether something in the environment could have played a role. These questions led her to write “Prescription for Prevention,” a 5-part series on cancer and environmental exposures in Pennsylvania, where she and her sister grew up, for Environmental Health Sciences. This series culminated in a national investigation of these issues in her new book, A New War on Cancer: The Unlikely Heroes Revolutionizing Prevention (Island Press / May 11, 2023 / $28).

Kristina has received recognition and awards from the Society of Environmental Journalists, the Association of Health Care Journalists, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Institute of Health Care Management, the Group Against Smog and Pollution, and the Carnegie Science Center for her reporting on the environment. She lives in Pittsburgh with her partner of ten years, Michael, and the cutest dog in the world, Mochi.