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Gofman, John W., M.D.
Preventing Breast Cancer:   The Story of a Major, Proven, Preventable Cause of This Disease.
         
Committee for Nuclear Responsibility.
1995. 339p. index. LC 94-69129. ISBN 0-932682-944. pap. $15.           MED


Physician Gofman has a lengthy and significant experience with low-level radiation hazards and their relation to cancer, starting with the Manhattan Project and continuing to this day. His rescarch is groundbreaking, and his earlier books on the subject (e.g., X-Rays:   Health Effects of Common Exams, LJ 1/86) are considered landmarks. Here he estimates that 75 percent of breast cancer in women is the direct result of an earlier overexposure to radiation by well-meaning but foolish doctors and others who used medical X-rays for everything from measuring children's shoes to checking teeth, culminating in the widespread use of mammography as a tool in the diagnosis of the very disease it's likely to cause. For most of us, then, it's too late to prevent the disease, but Gofman exhorts us to work toward the eradication of this deadly plague for future generations. His solid arguments are based on incontrovertible masses of fact and statistics reached after decades of study and research. Reading this book may be a rough slog for generalists but will be well worth the effort for those, especially women, who are concerned about their children and their children's children. Highly recommended.

Audrey Eaglen, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Ohio