Cancer Wars was a six part documentary that aired on PBS in 1997. The first episode discussed the history of cancer research

Cancer research

Cancer research is basic research into cancer in order to identify causes and develop strategies for prevention, diagnosis, treatments and cure....

 such as contributions of epidemiologists at the University of Jena which were the first to document the link between cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

 and smoking

Tobacco smoking

Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the resulting smoke is inhaled. The practice may have begun as early as 5000–3000 BCE. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 16th century where it followed common trade routes...

. The documentary discusses how US government tobacco interests prevented this evidence from coming to surface since tobacco was such an important US export. Cancer Wars delved into the pioneering work of Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson

Rachel Louise Carson was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement....

, whose book Silent Spring

Silent Spring

Silent Spring is a book written by Rachel Carson and published by Houghton Mifflin on 27 September 1962. The book is widely credited with helping launch the environmental movement....

radically changed the world's thinking about chemicals and their effects on human health and the environment.Other episodes in this series discussed various topics ranging from the history of the advances in cancer therapy to the influence of Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...

's neoliberal policies which cut funding to Anti-smoking campaigns in Britain because of interests in protecting British tobacco companies.

The documentary is based on Robert N. Proctor

Robert N. Proctor

Robert Neel Proctor is an American historian of science and Professor of the History of Science at Stanford University. While a professor of the history of science at Pennsylvania State University in 1999, he became the first historian to testify against the tobacco industry.At Pennsylvania State...

's 1995 book, Cancer Wars: How Politics Shapes What we Know and Don't Know About Cancer.