Gold is director of the Carcinogenic Potency Project at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Center at Berkeley. Carcinogens have even been found in 49 percent of the prescription drugs that have been tested. Although Ames developed the test for potential carcinogens, he is concerned that animal cancer test results are misleading, with cancer scare stories causing people to avoid items ranging from apples to soft drinks. In fact, Ames isn't even sure that it's the chemical itself that actually causes cancer in laboratory experiments. Our biggest risk of cancer comes not from pesticides and food additives, but from ordinary lifestyle choices.
Unbalanced diets account for about one-third of all U.S. cancer cases.
Reproductive hormones contribute to as much as 20 percent of all cancer, and lack of exercise, obesity, and alcohol intake influence hormone levels and increase risk. Chronic infections cause about 9 percent of all cancer cases in the U.S. Cancer also is due in part to natural aging processes. Not only are fears about synthetic pesticides rarely justified, but reducing their use may do more harm than good. Fruits and vegetables raised without synthetic pesticides are more expensive. If higher prices cause people to buy less produce, human health will suffer.