Corrections, clarifications, and updates
page 22
"It is often said that between half and two-thirds of cancer cases are preventable—by eliminating smoking and by getting more exercise and eating healthier meals."
page 27
"The result of all this is that a modern teenager may have already experienced more menstrual cycles than her great-grandmother did during her entire life."
page 28
"Consuming just a few drinks a day might increase breast cancer risk by 15 percent." As always the numbers vary. For two to four drinks a day studies show an increased risk ranging from 13 percent to 53 percent. https://ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/Table3Alcoholconsumptionandbreastcancerrisk.html
page 33
My memory failed me: It was cervical cancer, not ovarian, that took the life of my former girlfriend.
page 78
"Stuttering mycs help give rise to a childhood nervous system cancer called neuroblastoma."
page 84
"Mutations in a gene called hedgehog can cause fruit fly larvae to be covered with an abnormal profusion of bristles."
page 133
"Cell Death 2009: The Unplugged Tour": I recently learned that the t-shirt refers to a couple of music videos made by the Roche pharmaceutical company to promote lab equipment. The back of the t-shirt mentions (apparently fictional) electric and an unplugged tours. See the reference on this page: http://www.microbeworld.org/podcasts/this-week-in-microbiology/letters?start=80. I found pictures of the shirt on an ebay listing.
page 147
"It was EPIC researchers who estimated that for a 50-year-old who ate a lot of red and processed meat (160 grams, or more than a third of a pound a day) the ten-year risk of getting colorectal cancer was 1.71 percent — 0.43 percentage points higher than for someone who ate less than 20 grams." The change was from 1.28 to 1.71.
page 160
"About thirty workers were killed almost immediately by the estimated 100 million curies unleashed by the calamity at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986."