A Review of Living Downstream: A Scientist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment

by Kristin Skinner, Oregon State University graduate student and Western Region TOSC-TAB volunteer.

 

Sandra Steingraber explores the link between environmental contamination and cancer in Living Downstream: A Scientist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment (Vintage Press 1997). Steingraber, a survivor of bladder cancer, writes from an ecological perspective to explore the intricate connections between the air, water, and food we consume to cancer epidemics in contaminated communities. She presents these alarming connections in a well-written work reminiscent of Rachael Carson’s classic book, Silent Spring.

The ecological perspective from which Steingraber writes is appropriate and unique. Ecological studies have many similarities to epidemiological investigations. In both ecology and epidemiology investigations, it is not unusual that data are collected and analyzed many years after a perturbation occurs and proof is generally based on statistical analyses without showing direct evidence. In both areas, confounding factors are difficult to control and hard to tease out of the data sets. In ecology, a web of biological and environmental factors collectively influences communities of organisms. Unraveling this web is the goal of many scientific endeavors. In Living Downstream, Steingraber attempts to unravel a different and equally complicated web that connects contamination of common resources to cancer.

Living Downstream is a powerful mixture of scientific data and poetic prose that ultimately convinces the reader that cancer is intimately linked with environmental contamination. However, I found the book frustrating because, regardless of its poignant prose, many of these data have been previously presented to the public. The link between cancer and the environment is well documented in both scientific and non-scientific literature. From Silent Spring to Our Stolen Future, scientists over the last 40 years have been making the connection between unhealthy resources and unhealthy communities. Steingraber adds to the body of alarming literature with Living Downstream. Although emerging data support Steingraber’s hypothesis, one has to wonder how much data we collectively need for a call to action to take root. Regardless of this reiteration, Living Downstream is a timely and informative book. Steingraber does a wonderful job of presenting data to the reader in an understandable but not oversimplified style. She reminds us that the status of our environment is deeply intertwined with the health of our communities. When this connection is finally realized, our collective attitudes toward the protection of community resources will hopefully emerge as a more prominent goal.