Cancer Merchants: History of NCIs, Viruses, and Cancer Programs

The story of the National Cancer Institute's involvement in virus and cancer research is not wholly centered on research alone. Since its inception, the program has been marred with scandal, infighting, and flawed vision. Challenged with the goal of a cancer cure, the Institute always found itself on the verge of a discovery but never able to follow through.

Cancer Merchants traces the pathway of the Viruses and Cancer Program as authorized by Congress in 1958 and documents developments that led to its demise. It examines the relationship between science and politics, showing how government administrators often divert research funds to serve their own interests and the interests of organizations. The author also poses the question as to why it took the National Cancer Institute almost fifty years to recognize the fact viruses can cause human cancer-something that its own advisors and staff were telling them all along.