Visit regional cancer care associates at 40 bey lea road, suite b202 in toms river, nj 08753. Danny devito options film rights for toms river cancer cluster story. The book doesnt say, but bill mcveigh, the toms river high school east history teacher who lived on cardinal drive which. Pulitzer prizewinning book toms river tells a story of cancer, pollution and the hard job of linking the two. Danny devito options rights for book about toms river pollution. An honest, thoroughly researched, intelligently written book. Toms river investigates the subtle science of linking cancer to pollution. Danny devito options rights for book about toms river pollution, cancer outbreak. More new jerseyans get these cancers than any toms river, nj a study from the center for disease control and prevention says new jerseyans are more likely to get these forms of cancer than any. It is ironic that within a week after reading dan fagins book, toms river. A story of science and salvation is a 20 nonfiction book by the american author dan fagin. Dan fagin won the general nonfiction award, issued a by 19member pulitzer board administered by columbia university. Toms river, nj toms rivers water supply tested positive for chromium6, the cancercausing toxin that was made famous in the 2000 julia roberts movie erin brockovich, according to a.
Toms river unravels the careless environmental practices that damaged a community. A story of science and salvation, author dan fagin tells the true tale of what happens when large chemical companies with dubious waste disposal practices set up shop in a quiet seaside town in new jersey. The narrative backbone of this book is the 60year history of the relationship between the citizens of toms river and two chemical companies, ciba and union carbide. The toms river was known as goose creek until it was renamed in the early 18th century either for english captain william toms farmer and ferryman thomas luker or a native american named tom. A book that deftly combines investigative reporting and historical research to probe a new jersey seashore towns cluster of childhood cancers linked to water. This book is an incredible synthesis of the many disparate strands that is the story of toms river and the seeming cancer cluster that occurred there. Rampant pollution ravaged toms river 60 years ago, causing cancer clusters and triggering a new chapter in environmental protection. Toms river started out as a large but sparsely populated agrarian town near the atlantic ocean, barnegat bay, and the toms river, which gave the town its name. Contact us at 732 4318400 to schedule an appointment. The more attention the suspected cancer cluster got, the larger the stain on toms rivers reputation grew. The other was found about a decade later in toms river, n. Doctors suspected he had developed the cancer in utero. A story of science and salvation, the pulitzer prize. At the time the state health department report on toms river s elevated childhood cancer rates became public, gillicks group was assisting 157 pediatric cancer patients and their families.
Despite this books emotionally neutral title, toms river is at bottom a horror story of unregulated capitalism. A story of science and salvation traces the story of a new jersey town plagued by two generations of toxic waste dumping. Toms river when scientists recently told a group of toms river residents that a substance found in their drinking water nearly 20 years ago. At once intimate and objective, toms river is the heartbreaking account of one towns struggle with a legacy of toxic pollution. As the chairwoman of a cancer support group called oceans of love for children with cancer, she began noticing large numbers of cases in toms river in the mid 1990s. Dan fagins new book, toms river, is an edgeofyourseat account of industry and illness in a new jersey town, with plenty of side trips. Please take notice that the toms river township zoning board of adjustment will hold their regular may 14, 2020 meeting at 6. This was 23 more than would be expected in the population. A story of science and salvation, by dan fagin bantam books share. Environmental reporter discusses book about toms river. Chemical troubles in toms river may 6, 20 issue vol. Pulitzer prizewinning book toms river tells a story of cancer, pollution and the hard job of linking the two clusters of rare cancers like the one in toms river may actually be much more common than we can discern with the crude statistical tools, fagin writes.
Danny devitos jersey films 2nd avenue has optioned the screen rights to toms river. The book begins with a prologue describing what michael gillicks life was like. Pulitzer prize awarded to author of book about chemical dumping in toms river. Winner of the pulitzer prize winner of the new york public librarys helen bernstein book award a new classic of science reporting. What followed was a life of chemotherapy and a large volume of. Slate this hard hitting account of cancer epidemiology in the new jersey town of toms river is. Cibageigy and the toms river cancer cluster settlement. New jersey, beginning in 1952 through the 1980s, and the epidemiological investigations of a cancer cluster that subsequently emerged there. Cancer affects the entire family and we know they need some special time at ocean of love. On thursday, march 17, university of michigan welcomes dan fagin, author of the 2014 pulitzerprize winning book, toms river. The riveting true story of a small town ravaged by industrial pollution, toms river melds hardhitting investigative reporting, a fascinating scientific detective story, and an unforgettable cast of characters into a sweeping narrative in the tradition of a civil action, the emperor of all maladies, and the immortal life of henrietta lacks. It has been nationally recognized by the commission on cancer of the american college of surgeons with accreditation since 1986. In a nutshella troubling number of cancer cases occurring in very young children living in the area.
Fear and poison in a us cancer village china dialogue. Now available in paperback with a new afterword by acclaimed author dan fagin, the book masterfully blends hardhitting investigative journalism, scientific discovery, and unforgettable. Twitter facebook email a book that deftly combines investigative reporting and historical research to probe a new jersey seashore towns cluster of childhood cancers linked to water and air pollution. A story of science and salvation, i saw a tv replay of the movie, a civil action, starring jon travolta. When children unexpectedly started coming down with rare forms of cancer, the citizens of toms river started asking questions. Danny devito options rights for book about toms river. Fagin weaves a riveting tale of of chemical pollution in toms river, new jersey, with the story of cancer epidemiology from the 18th century teen chimney sweeps who suffered scrotal cancer to the apparent childhood cluster in toms river. It is about the dumping of industrial pollution by chemical companies including cibageigy, in toms river, new jersey, beginning in 1952 through the 1980s, and the epidemiological investigations of a cancer cluster that subsequently emerged there. Now available in paperback with a new afterword by acclaimed. Michael was diagnosed with neuroblastoma when he was three months old.
The true story of a small town ravaged by industrial pollution, toms river won the 2014 pulitzer prize and has been hailed by the new york times as andquot. Dan fagin has written a powerful and important book. The new york times the riveting true story of a small town ravaged by industrial pollution, toms river melds hardhitting investigative reporting, a fascinating scientific detective story, and an unforgettable cast of characters. Children in this coastal new jersey town were coming down with rare types of cancer. Will environmental rollbacks bring back toxic town. Danny devito options film rights for toms river cancer. Toms river cancer cluster still a mystery despite 20 years. A swiss industrial giant with more than 100 years of experience manufacturing dyes and other chemicals decided to build a factory there. By the spring of 1995, when steve jones called to ask him to look into a possible. While doing some student teaching in a toms river elementary school located in the core zone, there was a young girl in that class 6th grade class with leukemia we knew people in town who had young kids with cancer. The investigative story won a 2014 pulitzer prize for general. A cibaowned chemical plant came to the coastal town of toms river, new jersey, in 1952 to make dyes through processes that used and discharged enormous quantities of water. The true story of a small town ravaged by industrial pollution, toms river has been hailed by the new york times as a new classic of science reporting.
But, as this years pulitzer prizewinning book details, the. In the 1990s it seemed as if the number of children with cancer in the toms river area was growing. A new classic of science reporting the new york times. Danny devito options dan fagins pulitzerwinning book. And because of the unusual number of cancer cases, the town was designated a. Winding river park, whitesville rd, toms river, nj schedule. This is a fun night for the siblings of our ocean of love children. A story of science and salvation is a 20 nonfiction book by the american. Winner of the 2014 pulitzer prize for general nonfiction. Danny devito, shown here in london, optioned the screen rights for a book about the jersey shore town of toms river, and a communitys battle with water pollution and a cancer outbreak. Incredible book, maddening in underscoring the collaborative relationships between pollutors and regulators. The toms river chemical corporation must have discharged them into the river, and the three shallow riverside wells operated by the toms river water company on holly street, more than two miles downstream, must have then sucked in the contaminated water, pulling it through the sandy riverbank and into the wells and eventually pumping it to the. Waterborne destruction has visited toms river before, albeit via less conspicuous channels, which dan fagin traces with marvelous precision in his new book, toms river.
2 309 1283 1214 356 1345 160 240 1458 145 815 1379 589 481 813 1109 654 474 1476 91 314 428 73 875 1381 831 666 1396 1431