Why did the Nazis have the world's most aggressive anti-cancer campaign?

Our plain-English summary of Why did the Nazis have the world's most aggressive anti-cancer campaign?, by R.N. Proctor (Endeavour, 1999).

The study

• Author: R.N. Proctor
• Journal: Endeavour
• Published: 1999;23(2):76-9
• Type of article: Historical article
• Cited by: 4 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Recent historical work has shown that while certain kinds of science were destroyed under the Nazi regime, other kinds flourished. Sciences of an applied nature were especially encouraged, as were sciences that fit within the larger program of Nazi segregation and extermination. Little attention, though, has been given to Nazi cancer theory and policy. That is curious, given that the Nazi regime launched one of the most comprehensive and successful cancer prevention programs of the century, involving bans on smoking, restrictions on carcinogenic food dyes, new steps to limit exposure to asbestos and radiation, and much else as well.

In plain English

This historical essay does not report a new epidemiological study or newly collected health data. The author argued that Nazi Germany ran the world's most aggressive anti-cancer campaign. In the author's account, this included bans on carcinogens in food and water and restrictions on asbestos and other carcinogens in the workplace. Asbestos came up only briefly. The author stated that Germany under the Nazis was the first nation to recognize lung cancer and mesothelioma as compensatable asbestos-induced occupational diseases, but gave no dates, figures or sources for this. Most of the essay concerned tobacco. The author described a 1943 paper by Schairer and Schöniger that found people with lung cancer were far more likely to smoke than controls with other cancers. The author added that the probability of those results arising by chance was less than one in ten million. The author also described anti-smoking laws that began in 1938, and noted that tobacco consumption nonetheless grew during the first seven years of Nazi rule. The author concluded that the nazification of German science, medicine and public health was more complex than commonly imagined.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: historical essay (history of science) presenting the author's historical findings; no new epidemiological study or newly collected health data
• Who was studied: Germany under the Nazi regime, with a focus on cancer science and public health policy in the 1930s and 1940s
• Exposure: Mainly tobacco smoking. Asbestos is mentioned only briefly, as one of several workplace carcinogens restricted under the Nazi anti-cancer campaign. No fiber types, products, jobs or doses are given.
• Main results:
  • The author stated that Germany under the Nazis was the first nation to recognize lung cancer and mesothelioma as compensatable asbestos-induced occupational diseases.
  • The author described the Nazi anti-cancer campaign as the world's most aggressive, including bans on carcinogens in food and water.
  • The author stated that the world's first broad medical consensus that smoking is the major cause of lung cancer arose in Germany in the early 1940s.
  • Describing another study (Schairer and Schöniger, 1943), the author reported that it found people with lung cancer were far more likely to smoke than a control group of people with other kinds of cancer.
  • The author added an assessment of the 1943 study. Its authors had not quantified its statistical significance, but the author stated that the probability of its results arising by chance was less than one in ten million.
  • According to the author, legal sanctions against smoking began in 1938.
  • The author noted that tobacco consumption in Germany grew dramatically during the first seven years of Nazi rule.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the nazification of German science, medicine and public health was more complex than is commonly imagined.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Carcinogenic.

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