An excerpt from: The Politics of Cancer,
by Samuel Epstein, M.D.

The American Cancer Society fails to support, and at times has been hostile to, critical legislation that seeks to reduce or eliminate exposure to environmental and occupational carcinogens. For example, the ACS refused to join a coalition of major organizations, including the March of Dimes, American Heart Association, and American Lung Association, to support the Clean Air Act. The ACS has rejected requests from congressional subcommittees, unions, and environmental organizations to support their efforts to ban or regulate a wide range of occcupational and environmental carcinogens. Giant corporations, which profit handsomely while they pollute the air, water, and food with cancer causing chemicals, must be greatly comforted by the the ACS's silence.

The ACS's approach to cancer prevention largely reflects a "blame the victim" philosophy, which emphasizes faulty lifestyles, rather than workplace or environmental carcinogens. For instance, the ACS blames the higher incidence of cancer among blacks primarily on their diet and smoking habits, which diverts attention from the fact that blacks work in the dirtiest, most hazardous jobs, and live in the most polluted communities...

Cancer must be regarded as an essentially preventable disease. A potential source of cancer prevention funding is the multi-million dollar budget of the American Cancer Society (ACS) raised by voluntary public contributions. An economic boycott of the ACS is now well overdue.