Biography of Samuel S. Epstein, MD

Dr. Epstein, author of Toxic Beauty, graciously agreed to an interview with A Cup of Coffee and a Good Book. He gave me his fascinating and extensive bio and I was trying to break it up into highlights, but it was too hard to decide what should go and what should stay. Here it is in its entirety...this should give you some confidence in his work!

I will post his interview tomorrow.

Sammuel S. Epstein, MD Bio:


Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., D.Path., D.T.M&H, Professor emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, is an internationally recognized authority on the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, the causes and prevention of cancer, and the toxic and carcinogenic effects of environmental pollutants in air, water, soil and the workplace, and of ingredients and contaminants in consumer products—food, cosmetics and toiletries, household products—and related public policy concerns.

He has published some 270 peer reviewed scientific articles, and authored or co-authored fifteen books: the 1971 Mutagenicity of Pesticides; the 1971 Drugs of Abuse: Genetic and Other Chronic Non-Psychiatric Hazards; the 1974 The Legislation of Product Safety: Consumer Health and Product Hazards; the prize-winning 1978 The Politics of Cancer; the 1982 Hazardous Waste in America; the 1983 Cancer in Britain: The Politics of Prevention; the 1995 Safe Shopper’s Bible; the 1998 Breast Cancer Prevention Program; the 1998 The Politics of Cancer Revisited; the 2001 Got (Genetically Engineered) Milk! The Monsanto rBGH/BST Milk Wars Handbook (e-book); the 2001 Unreasonable Risk. How to Avoid Cancer from Cosmetics and Personal Care Products; the 2005 Cancer-Gate: How to Win the Losing Cancer War; the 2006 What’s In Your Milk?; the 2006 (Japanese) Shopper Beware: How to Avoid Cancer and Other Toxic Effects from Cosmetics and Personal Care Products; and the 2009 Toxic Beauty. He has contributed numerous editorials and letters to leading national and regional newspapers, and published nearly 100 press releases from 1993 onwards.

Dr. Epstein’s past committee and society involvements include: Chairman of the Air Pollution Control Association Committee on Biological Effects of Air Pollutants; President of the Society of Occupational and Environmental Health; Founder and Secretary of the Environmental Mutagen Society; advisor to a wide range of public interest, environmental, citizen activist and organized labor groups; Co-Chairman of the Commission for the Advancement of Public Interest Organizations; and President of the Rachel Carson Council, Inc. In 1993, he founded the non-profit international Cancer Prevention Coalition of which he is the Chairman.

Dr. Epstein’s activities in the interface between science and public policy include: the lead expert witness involved in the banning of DDT in 1969; consultant to the U.S. Senate Committee on Public Works; drafting Congressional legislation; frequent invited Congressional testimony; and membership of key federal agency advisory committees including the EPA Health Effects Advisory Committee, and the 1973 Department of Labor Advisory Committee on the Regulation of Occupational Carcinogens. He was EPA's key expert witness involved in the banning of hazardous products and pesticides, including Aldrin and Chlordane in 1971, and Heptachlor in 1973. From 1974 to 1993, he was the nation’s lead expert in toxic tort litigation against over 30 petrochemical industries. He is the leading international expert on the public health hazards of the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rBGH) used for increasing milk production, and of sex hormones used for fattening cattle in feedlots, on which he consulted for the European Commission, testified on its behalf at the January 1997 World Trade Organisation hearings, and presented testimony to the EU Parliament in May, 1997. In December 1998, he presented draft “Legislative Proposals for Reversing the Cancer Epidemic” to the Swedish Parliament, and subsequent to the U.K. All Parliamentary Cancer Group in June 1999. In May 2004, he presented an analysis of the EU’s REACH initiative for regulating industrial chemicals at UNESCO in Paris. In March 2006, he presented an analysis of “The Role of Socially Responsible Corporations in Winning the Losing Cancer War,” at the United Nations in New York.

Dr. Epstein’s honors include: medals and prizes in the U.K. Royal Army Medical Corp.; the 1957 British Empire Cancer Campaign (now the CRC) Fellowship at The Hospital for Sick Children Great Ormond Street, and the Chester Beatty Cancer Research Institute, London; the 1969 Society of Toxicology Achievement Award; the 1977 National Conservancy Award of the National Wildlife Federation; the 1981 Yale University Henry Kaiser Award; the 1989 Environmental Justice Award; the 1990 Rachel Carson Legacy Award, for “Significantly Advancing Medical Research in Toxic Chemicals and Bringing His Knowledge Forcefully To World Attention;” the 1993 University of Tasmania Richard Jones Memorial Award Lecture; the 1998 Right Livelihood Award (the Alternative Nobel Prize) for International Contributions to Cancer Prevention, and for his leadership role in warning of the dangers of genetically engineered milk; the 1999 Bioneers Award; the 2000 Humanitarian Award from the National Silver Haired Congress; the 2000 Project Censored Award (the Alternative Pulitzer Prize); 2003 Honorary Member, World Innovation Foundation; the 2005 Albert Schweitzer Golden Grand Medal for Humanitarianism, for International Contributions to Cancer Prevention; and recipient of the 2007 Dragonfly Award from Beyond Pesticides.

Dr. Epstein has extensive media experience. This includes numerous appearances on major national TV networks including Sixty Minutes, Face the Nation, Meet the Press, McNeil/Lehrer, Donahue, Good Morning America, the Today Show, and documentaries, including the 2004 prize-winning The Corporation. He has also made frequent appearances on Canadian, European, Australian, and Japanese T.V. Dr. Epstein is a member of the National Writers Union, AFL-CIO, and the National Association of Science Writers.


Contact: University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, MC 922
2121 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612
ph. (312) 996-2297; fax (312) 413-9898; epstein@uic.edu; www.preventcancer.com