Hormesis: The Power of Poison - Feature in UMASS Alumni Monthly

[Stewart Farber <farbersa@optonline.net>]

Hi all:

There is a very interesting article in the Spring 2004 issue of the UMASS Alumni Mag about Dr. Edward 

Calabrese's [Professor in the Dept. of Environmental Health Science at UMASS] research in hormesis and its 

growing respectablity in the toxicology community. 



See link below:



http://www.umassmag.com/Spring_2004/The_Power_of_Poison_613.html



Excerpt:

"Although Calabrese found hormetic response intriguing, he did not make it a central issue in his 

scientific career over the next two decades. It was not until 1985 that a conference on radiation hormesis 

(it appears that large doses of radiation can promote cancer growth, but small doses can help the body 

fight off the disease) revived his interest in those poison-loving peppermint plants. By 1990, the health 

benefits of toxic chemicals had become his main professional preoccupation.



He?s aware that scientific findings can often be distorted in public policy debates and that his research 

could be co-opted by political and industrial partisans who never met an anti-pollution law they didn?t 

hate. ?My role,? he says, ?is to provide the best science possible. The implications are huge and they?re 

really just beginning to be known.? Beyond any impact on environmental policy and medical practice, he sees 

hormesis as the key to a more profound understanding of the human body. ?This occurs in every cell, every 

organ, every whole organism,? he says. ?It speaks to our basic biology.?

===============



Stewart Farber, MSPublic Health [UMass School of Public Health '73]





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