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The Society of Cells: Cancer and Control of Cell Proliferation. C. Sonnenschein and A. M. Soto. 154 pp. Bios/Springer-Verlag, 1999.$34.95.
With the War on Cancer approaching the length of the Thirty Years War and billions of taxpayer dollars having been spent since it began, it is not unreasonable to ask why the overall morbidity and mortality associated with cancer has not declined appreciably in the United States. Most scientists and observers of the cancer research efforts of the past quarter century seem to have concluded that this investment of time and money has been amply rewarded with spectacular advances in the basic understanding of the molecular origins of carcinogenesis.
On the evidence of The Society of Cells, it is safe to say that C. Sonnenschein and A. M. Soto are rather unimpressed with this entire research program and its premises. Sonnenschein and Soto, physician-scientists at Tufts University School of Medicine, argue that the prevailing paradigm of cancer research is based...