Every Woman's Handbook for Preventing Cancer: More Than 100 Simple Ways to Reduce Your Risk

A cancer-information specialist at New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, as well as a cancer survivor herself, Altman brings to this work the same assertiveness that imbued her earlier Waking Up/Fighting Back: The Politics of Breast Cancer. This book, however, is intended more for reference than continuous reading. To help women take responsibility for their health by recognizing and thus avoiding--or least reducing--their risk factors for cancer, Altman describes risks according to their site of origin (in the body, in the home and workplace and in the environment), listing them in three alphabetical sequences. The first section, which is the most extensive, lists both risk factors (e.g., age, barbecued foods and fertility drugs) and preventative measures (e.g., eating cruciferous vegetables and having pelvic exams). This mix may at first confuse casual browsers. The following two sections list only risk factors, e.g. asbestos, radon, carcinogenic chemicals, second-hand smoke and other hazards. Every entry in this action-oriented book ends with a what-to-do advisory. Appendices list cancer-treatment centers, information sources and activist organizations. (Oct.)