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<blockquote>No-one would deny that Mendelian laws are as applicable to the human as to the tall and short peas which Mendel used in his original experiments. Yet Mendel could not have formulated the laws if he had not studied an obvious character in a quickly growing plant. Similarly, in the study of breast cancer the use of inbred mice is an invaluable aid to the elucidation of the problem in man.</blockquote>
<blockquote>No-one would deny that Mendelian laws are as applicable to the human as to the tall and short peas which Mendel used in his original experiments. Yet Mendel could not have formulated the laws if he had not studied an obvious character in a quickly growing plant. Similarly, in the study of breast cancer the use of inbred mice is an invaluable aid to the elucidation of the problem in man.</blockquote>


Subsequently, Bonser was asked to study data on [[bladder cancer]] in dye workers at [[Imperial Chemical Industries|ICI]], [[Huddersfield]].<ref name="Tunbridge1979"/> In the 1930s she led early investigations into whether chemicals used in the dyeing industry caused bladder cancer.<ref name=Yorkshire>{{cite web |last1=Research |first1=Yorkshire Cancer |title=History |url=https://www.yorkshirecancerresearch.org.uk/about-us/history |website=Yorkshire Cancer Research |access-date=26 March 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Homburg2019>{{cite book |last1=Stoff |first1=Heiko |last2=Travis |first2=Anthony S. |editor1-last=Homburg |editor1-first=Ernst |editor2-last=Vaupel |editor2-first=Elisabeth |title=Hazardous Chemicals: Agents of Risk and Change, 1800-2000 |date=2019 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-78920-320-2 |page=145 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bX2MDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA145 |language=en |chapter=4. Discovering chemical carcinogenesis: the case of aromatic amines}}</ref> At the time, attempts to cause bladder cancer in animals with chemicals from the dye industry or urine of workers affected with bladder cancer had been unsuccessful, despite knowing an associaton betweeen bladder cancer and the dye industry since the late nineteenth century.<ref name=Cooper1979>{{cite journal |last1=Cooper |first1=Edward H. |date=September 1979 |title=Obituary: Georgiana M. Bonser |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/281165a0 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=281 |issue=5727 |pages=165–165 |doi=10.1038/281165a0 |issn=1476-4687 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240321153745/https://www.nature.com/articles/281165a065a0 |archive-date=21 March 2024}}</ref> Assisted by chemmists D. B. Clayson and J. W. Jull, she was helped by the surgical skills of urologist [[Leslie Norman Pyrah|Leslie N. Pyrah]].<ref name="Tunbridge1979"/> Together they studied the effects of the [[dye]] precursor [[2-Naphthylamine]] and other aromatic chemicals with cancer causing properties.<ref name="Tunbridge1979"/> Her work on this, published later, showed that 2-Naphthylamine could induce bladder cancer in dogs, [[hepatoma]]s in mice, [[hyperplasia]] of the bladder lining in rabbits, and papillomas of the bladder in rats.<ref name=Hicks1982>{{cite journal |last1=Hicks |first1=R M |last2=Wright |first2=R |last3=Wakefield |first3=J S J |title=The induction of rat bladder cancer by 2-naphthylamine |journal=British Journal of Cancer |date=October 1982 |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=646–661 |doi=10.1038/bjc.1982.250 |pmid=7138770 |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2011196/|pmc=2011196 }}</ref> Some of the benign tumours she found have later been found to be [[precancerous condition]]s.<ref name=Hicks1982/>
Subsequently, Bonser was asked to study data on [[bladder cancer]] in dye workers at [[Imperial Chemical Industries|ICI]], [[Huddersfield]].<ref name="Tunbridge1979"/> In the 1930s she led early investigations into whether chemicals used in the dyeing industry caused bladder cancer.<ref name=Yorkshire>{{cite web |last1=Research |first1=Yorkshire Cancer |title=History |url=https://www.yorkshirecancerresearch.org.uk/about-us/history |website=Yorkshire Cancer Research |access-date=26 March 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Homburg2019>{{cite book |last1=Stoff |first1=Heiko |last2=Travis |first2=Anthony S. |editor1-last=Homburg |editor1-first=Ernst |editor2-last=Vaupel |editor2-first=Elisabeth |title=Hazardous Chemicals: Agents of Risk and Change, 1800-2000 |date=2019 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-78920-320-2 |page=145 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bX2MDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA145 |language=en |chapter=4. Discovering chemical carcinogenesis: the case of aromatic amines}}</ref> At the time, attempts to cause bladder cancer in animals with chemicals from the dye industry or urine of workers affected with bladder cancer had been unsuccessful, despite knowing an associaton betweeen bladder cancer and the dye industry since the late nineteenth century.<ref name=Cooper1979>{{cite journal |last1=Cooper |first1=Edward H. |date=September 1979 |title=Obituary: Georgiana M. Bonser |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/281165a0 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=281 |issue=5727 |pages=165–165 |doi=10.1038/281165a0 |issn=1476-4687 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240321153745/https://www.nature.com/articles/281165a065a0 |archive-date=21 March 2024}}</ref> Assisted by chemmists D. B. Clayson and J. W. Jull, she was helped by the surgical skills of urologist [[Leslie Norman Pyrah|Leslie N. Pyrah]].<ref name="Tunbridge1979"/> Together they studied the effects of the [[dye]] precursor [[2-Naphthylamine]] and other aromatic chemicals with cancer causing properties.<ref name="Tunbridge1979"/><ref name=Süss1973>{{cite book |last1=Süss |first1=Rudolf |last2=Scribner |first2=John D. |last3=Kinzel |first3=Volker |title=Cancer: Experiments and Concepts |date=1973 |publisher=Springer |location=New York |isbn=978-0-387-90042-1 |pages=22-41 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ikcyBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA22 |language=en |chapter=Aromatic amines: activation through metabolism}}</ref> Her work on this, published later, showed that 2-Naphthylamine could induce bladder cancer in dogs, [[hepatoma]]s in mice, [[hyperplasia]] of the bladder lining in rabbits, and papillomas of the bladder in rats.<ref name=Hicks1982>{{cite journal |last1=Hicks |first1=R M |last2=Wright |first2=R |last3=Wakefield |first3=J S J |title=The induction of rat bladder cancer by 2-naphthylamine |journal=British Journal of Cancer |date=October 1982 |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=646–661 |doi=10.1038/bjc.1982.250 |pmid=7138770 |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2011196/|pmc=2011196 }}</ref> Some of the benign tumours she found have later been found to be [[precancerous condition]]s.<ref name=Hicks1982/>


==World War II==
==World War II==

Revision as of 17:22, 2 April 2024

Georgiana Bonser
Born5 May 1898
Manchester
Died9 June 1979
Education
Known forResearch in cancer causing effects of aromatic amines
Medical career
ProfessionPhysician
FieldOncology
Institutions
ResearchCancer

Georgiana May Bonser (5 May 1898 - 9 June 1979) was a British physician, researcher in cancer at the University of Leeds, and consultant at St James’s Hospital. She was Manchester Royal Infirmary's first woman house surgeon, and later the first woman chairman of the Leeds Division of the British Medical Association.

Bonser developed inbred mice, and led early investigations into whether chemicals used in the dyeing industry caused bladder cancer.

Between 1959 and 1960, Bonser served as president of the Medical Women's Federation. Following her retirement in 1963, she continued to be involved at her university's cancer research centre and in the breast clinc at Leeds General Infirmary.

Early life and education

Georgiana Bonser was born on 5 May 1898 in Manchester, to Ogilvie Duthrie, Salford's director of education.[1] She completed her secondary education at Manchester High School for Girls, before gaining admission to study medicine at Manchester University and then qualifying as a doctor at London's King's College Hospital in 1920.[1][2] The subject of her dissertation was morbid anatomy.[3]

Early career

Following an appointment as Manchester Royal Infirmary's first woman house surgeon, Bonser took up a post as anatomy demonstrator under John Stopford.[1] In 1923, the year after joining the British Medical Association (BMA), she gained her MD, with distinction, and became president of the women's union at Manchester University.[2] In the same year she earned the University's first Dickinson travelling fellowship, with which she chose to study at the Pasteur Institute, Paris, for a year.[1][2] It was there, that she possibly became interested in genetics.[3] In addition, it was in Paris that she met Kenneth Bonser, an architect who she later married in 1927.[1]

Her early research focussed on lung cancer, and later on breast and testicular cancers.[2] With her colleagues, she investigated how aromatic amines worked and whether they could cause cancer.[2]

Early cancer research

Beginning in 1927, Bonser was appointed by Richard Douglas Passey at Leeds University to research cancer, and remained active there in this field until retirement.[2][3] Alongside her earliest studies that looked at the possibility of hereditary factors playing a role in causing breast tumours in mice, she followed-up siblings of a group of people treated for breast cancer.[1] Her introduction of strains of inbred mice and laboratory approach to research led to criticism from the then senior surgeon at St Marks, secretary British Empire Cancer Campaign, John Lockhart-Mummery, who held more importance to a clinical approach.[4][3] To this, Bonsu responded:[3]

No-one would deny that Mendelian laws are as applicable to the human as to the tall and short peas which Mendel used in his original experiments. Yet Mendel could not have formulated the laws if he had not studied an obvious character in a quickly growing plant. Similarly, in the study of breast cancer the use of inbred mice is an invaluable aid to the elucidation of the problem in man.

Subsequently, Bonser was asked to study data on bladder cancer in dye workers at ICI, Huddersfield.[1] In the 1930s she led early investigations into whether chemicals used in the dyeing industry caused bladder cancer.[5][6] At the time, attempts to cause bladder cancer in animals with chemicals from the dye industry or urine of workers affected with bladder cancer had been unsuccessful, despite knowing an associaton betweeen bladder cancer and the dye industry since the late nineteenth century.[7] Assisted by chemmists D. B. Clayson and J. W. Jull, she was helped by the surgical skills of urologist Leslie N. Pyrah.[1] Together they studied the effects of the dye precursor 2-Naphthylamine and other aromatic chemicals with cancer causing properties.[1][8] Her work on this, published later, showed that 2-Naphthylamine could induce bladder cancer in dogs, hepatomas in mice, hyperplasia of the bladder lining in rabbits, and papillomas of the bladder in rats.[9] Some of the benign tumours she found have later been found to be precancerous conditions.[9]

World War II

In 1942, after the department of cancer research closed, she was appointed morbid anatomist to Pontefract General Hospital.[1]

Later career

In 1948, three years after taking the MRCP and six years before being elected fellow of the College, she moved to St James’s Hospital, Leeds, where she continued part-time until she retired.[1][10] Between 1948 and 1952 she reported on a series of new cases of lung cancer at three hospitals, in Aberdeen, leeds and Birmingham.[11] Her findings noted that males in urban areas had a higher rate of lung cancer, but when females were exposed to the same industrial hazards, they were also more likely to develop lung cancer.[11]

In 1953, just over 30 years after joining the British Medical Association, Bonser became the first woman chairman of the organisation's Leeds Division.[2] In 1955 Bonser pointed out that "since the introduction of the regulations for the control of asbestos dust in 1931, the amount of exposure of the workers to dust has been enormously reduced".[12]

In additon to several lectures Bonser delivered in the United States, in 1956 the Indian Governemnt invited her to address Mumbai's Cancer Research Centre.[2] The following year the Ministry of Health chose her to sit on their committee that looked at the risk of cancers from food additives and preservatives.[2] Two years later, Bonser was the only woman scientist among 25 experts contributing to an international symposium on cancer, held in Israel.[2]

Between 1959 and 1960, Bonser served as president of the Medical Women's Federation.[1] She then co-authored Human and Experimental Breast Cancer, published in 1961.[13] In it she gave a good description of types of blunt duct adenosis, a controversial term for a type of breast lesion.[14] Following her retirement in 1963, Bonser continued to be involved at her university's cancer research centre and the breast clinc in Leeds General Infirmary.[2] In 1965 she was the only woman member of a sub-committtee of 22, appointed to look at toxic chemicals in agriculture and storage of food.[2] Bonser delivered the Goulstonian Lecture in 1966,[15] and in 1967, she delivered the Ernestine Henry Lecture.[16]

Death

Bonser died on 9 June 1979, at the age of 81.[7]

Selected publications

  • Bonser, Georgiana M. (1929). "The Incidence of Tumours of the Respiratory Tract in Leeds". The Journal of Hygiene. 28 (4): 340–354. ISSN 0022-1724. PMID 20475004.
  • Bonser, Georgiana M. (January 1943). "Epithelial tumours of the bladder in dogs induced by pure β‐naphthylamine". The Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology. 55 (1): 1–6. doi:10.1002/path.1700550102. ISSN 0368-3494.
  • Bonser, Georgiana M.; Clayson, D. B.; Jull, J. W.; Pyrah, L. N. (March 1954). "The experimental aspects of industrial bladder cancer". British Journal of Urology. 26 (1): 49–52. doi:10.1111/j.1464-410X.1954.tb04734.x. PMID 13149845.
  • Bonser, Georgiana M; Clayson, D B; Jull, J W; Pyrah, L N (September 1956). "The Carcinogenic Activity of 2-Naphthylamine". British Journal of Cancer. 10 (3): 533–538. doi:10.1038/bjc.1956.62. PMC 2073828. PMID 13396104.
  • Bonser, G. M.; Bradshaw, L.; Clayson, D. B.; Jull, J. W. (September 1956). "A further study of the carcinogenic properties of ortho hydroxy-amines and related compounds by bladder implantation in the mouse". British Journal of Cancer. 10 (3): 539–546. doi:10.1038/bjc.1956.63. ISSN 0007-0920. PMC 2073824. PMID 13396105.
  • Bonser, Georgiana M; Clayson, D B; Jull, J W; Pyrah, L N (September 1956). "The Carcinogenic Activity of 2-Naphthylamine". British Journal of Cancer. 10 (3): 533–538. doi:10.1038/bjc.1956.62. PMC 2073828. PMID 13396104.
  • Bonser, Georgiana (1977). "4. Tumours of the ovary". In Zuckerman, Solomon; Weir, Barbara J. (eds.). Physiology (2nd ed.). New York: Academic Press. pp. 129–175. ISBN 0-12-782602-5.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Tunbridge, Ronald. "Georgiana May Bonser". history.rcplondon.ac.uk. Royal College of Physicians. Archived from the original on 21 March 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Obituary: Georgiana M Bonser" (PDF). British Medical Journal. 1 (6180): 1788–1790. 30 June 1979. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.6180.1788. ISSN 0007-1447. Archived from the original on 24 March 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e Palladino, Paolo (2002). "4. Genetic practices and the end of the subject". Plants, Patients, and the Historians: On (re)membering in the Age Genetic Engineering. Rutgers University Press. pp. 98–123. ISBN 0-8135-3238-8.
  4. ^ Kleinman, Kim (2004). "Plants, Patients, and the Historian: (Re)membering in the Age of Genetic Engineering (review)". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 78 (2): 526–527. ISSN 1086-3176.
  5. ^ Research, Yorkshire Cancer. "History". Yorkshire Cancer Research. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  6. ^ Stoff, Heiko; Travis, Anthony S. (2019). "4. Discovering chemical carcinogenesis: the case of aromatic amines". In Homburg, Ernst; Vaupel, Elisabeth (eds.). Hazardous Chemicals: Agents of Risk and Change, 1800-2000. Berghahn Books. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-78920-320-2.
  7. ^ a b Cooper, Edward H. (September 1979). "Obituary: Georgiana M. Bonser". Nature. 281 (5727): 165–165. doi:10.1038/281165a0. ISSN 1476-4687. Archived from the original on 21 March 2024.
  8. ^ Süss, Rudolf; Scribner, John D.; Kinzel, Volker (1973). "Aromatic amines: activation through metabolism". Cancer: Experiments and Concepts. New York: Springer. pp. 22–41. ISBN 978-0-387-90042-1.
  9. ^ a b Hicks, R M; Wright, R; Wakefield, J S J (October 1982). "The induction of rat bladder cancer by 2-naphthylamine". British Journal of Cancer. 46 (4): 646–661. doi:10.1038/bjc.1982.250. PMC 2011196. PMID 7138770.
  10. ^ "Medical News". British Medical Journal. 1 (4871): 1164–1165. 15 May 1954.
  11. ^ a b "Carcinoma of the lung". The Lancet. 2. London: The Lancet Limited: 755. 9 October 1954.
  12. ^ Braun, Alexandra (2012). "10. The English codification debate and the role of jurists in the development of legal doctrines". In Lobban, Michael; Moses, Julia (eds.). The Impact of Ideas on Legal Development. Vol. 7. Cambridge University Press. p. 241. ISBN 978-1-107-02711-4.
  13. ^ "Human and Experimental Breast Cancer: Book review". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine. 55 (11): 994. 1962.
  14. ^ Boecker, Werner J.; Dabbs, David J. (2024). "18. Fibrocystic and usual epithelial hyperplasia of ductal type fibrocystic change". In Dabbs, David J. (ed.). Breast Pathology (3rd ed.). Philadelphia: Elsevier. p. 430. ISBN 978-0-323-79522-7.
  15. ^ "Royal College of Physicians of London" (PDF). British Medical Journal. 2 (5509): 367–370. 6 August 1966.
  16. ^ "Occupation, chemicals, and cancer". British medical journal. 2 (5553): 649–50. 10 June 1967. PMID 6024518.

Further reading

External links

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