With great sadness, I note the loss on October 5th of our longtime friend, Dr. Bruce Ames. ACSH’s Founder, Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, and Dr. Ames were very good friends, and he most recently participated in ACSH’s 2021 documentary, Big Fears Little Risks.
He was born in 1928 and grew up in New York City, graduating from the Bronx High School of Science. He received his undergraduate degree at Cornell University and did graduate studies at the California Institute of Technology.
Dr. Ames was Professor of Molecular Biology, now Emeritus, at the University of California at Berkeley and a senior scientist at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Center.
Dr. Ames is most famous for developing the eponymic Ames Test, which uses Salmonella typhimurium to quickly and cheaply test for mutagens. The test has been widely used as an initial screen for possible carcinogens and has identified potential carcinogens previously used in commercial products.
A Contrarian
Dr. Ames’s subsequent work focused on the degree of mutagenic and, therefore, carcinogenic properties. Scientists tend to look for positive or negative results without considering the magnitude of the effect. His work provided a system for evaluating a compound’s relative dangers. He also continued to test various natural and man-made compounds. He found that despite the common wisdom that he and others had assumed, naturally occurring compounds were not necessarily as benign as man-made ones. He contended that most human genetic damage arises from a lack of essential micronutrients in poor diets and the oxidation of DNA during normal metabolism.
"If you have thousands of hypothetical risks that you are supposed to pay attention to, that completely drives out the major risks you should be aware of." – Bruce Ames, Ph.D
He became concerned that too much attention to the relatively minor health effects of trace quantities of carcinogens would divert scarce financial resources away from significant health risks and cause public confusion about the relative importance of different hazards.
Dr. Ames received many honors. In 1964, he received the American Chemical Society’s Eli Lily Award; in 1975, the Rosenstiel Award; in 1981, the Wadsworth Award; in 1983, the GM Cancer Research Foundation’s Charles S. Mott Prize, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, the American Institute of Chemists’ Gold Medal Award, the Japan Prize, the U.S. National Medal of Science, American Society for Microbiology Lifetime Achievement Award, and numerous other awards and fellowships.
I was fortunate enough to meet him two decades ago. Despite all of the great things that he accomplished, he seemed so humble. Dr. Ames’s achievements and contributions to advancing science and health have been enormous. ACSH has lost a friend, but the world has lost a hero.
Thom Golab
Thom Golab is the President of the American Council on Science and Health. Prior to becoming President in 2019, Mr. Golab joined ACSH as Vice President of Development in May 2017 and has served on the ACSH Board of Trustees since 2012.
