Jane Plant

Jane Anne Plant CBE, FREng, FRSE, FRSA (1945–2016) was a leading geochemist, scientist, and author.

Plant was a pioneer in the field of geochemical surveys and environmental surveys.

She was Chief Scientist at the British Geological Survey and was a Professor of Geochemistry at Imperial College London.

She attended at Ashby de la Zouch Grammar School from where she went to Liverpool University in 1963.

She graduated with first class honours in geology and took the prize for the best degree in her year.

Plant spent most of her career at the British Geological Survey (BGS), and is credited for establishing the ‘Environment and Health’ as significant research.

She joined the Institute for Geological Sciences (former name of BGS) in 1967, at the age of 23.

There, she led the geochemical reconnaissance programme mapping the presence of elements in Scottish Highlands.

She was the first woman to be appointed to a Scientific Officer role rather than in a technical or supporting grade.

She was assigned to the Atomic Energy Section in London, led by Stanley Bowie.

She developed methods for a regional geochemical survey in the north of Scotland and was awarded a PhD in 1977 from the University of Leicester for her thesis "Regional Geochemical mapping in Great Britain with particular reference to sources of error".

Plant developed the high-resolution BGS Geochemical Baseline of the Environment (G-BASE) programme to map different chemicals over the land surface by analyzing sediments, ore deposits, soils and water samples.

The programme began to broaden and created a geochemical database, which could be applied to economic, health and environmental issues.

She applied her maps to health and her findings helped create the field of environmental health, specifically researching Asian and Africa, and was able to study a correlation between a lack of available selenium and heart disease in China.

Her personal influence on the research community was great.

After getting her PhD in 1977, she received a special merit promotion in 1983.

Her research in the environmental geochemical field became more personal in 1993 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer for the sixth time.

She noticed the low cancer rate among Chinese women and discovered a correlation between cancer rate and dairy consumption.

Her research led to many of the protocols used in today's geochemical mapping projects worldwide.

Plant believed that the link between dairy and breast cancer is similar to that between smoking and lung cancer.

She commented that "basically dairy has now got a lot of oestrogen in it because it's common practise to milk pregnant cows, which has driven up the oestrogen content of milk. It also contains tiny proteins called growth factors, and these growth factors directly promote cancer."

Plant was concerned about the Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in cow's milk which she argued could increase the risk of breast and prostate cancer.

She recommended that cancer patients take conventional treatment but also adopt a dairy-free diet.

Plant's dairy-free regime was a plant-based diet that was mostly vegan.

She was disappointed that her ideas were not accepted by the medical community but thousands of cancer sufferers were interested in her theories and wrote to her for advice.

Plant's dairy-free diet relied on plant proteins such a soy and was inspired by the eating habits of rural China.

She followed this diet for 18 years and remained cancer-free.

However, her cancer returned three more times and she blamed these recurrences on becoming lax about her diet.

Plant stated that she had strayed from her diet and had a weakness for calves’ livers cooked in butter.

Plant died at her home in Richmond upon Thames from a blood clot following chemotherapy.

Plant was appointed a CBE in 1997 in recognition of her contribution to Earth science and industry.

Along with numerous awards, she was also a member of Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (1999-2005).

Her achievements were recognized by her peers with many awards.

Plant was also highly involved in the Institution of Mining & Metallurgy (now Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining) where she was involved in many aspects including a role on the Council, and was the first female President of the Institution of Mining & Metallurgy, a post she held from 2001 to 2002.

This gave her an extensive network of key connections with government, industry and academia.

Plant was diagnosed with cancer six times and studied the link between dairy and breast cancer.

She published several books on the subject.

She was a British Geological Survey scientist until her retirement from the role of Chief Scientist in 2005.

Plant was Emeritus Professor of Geochemistry at Imperial College until her death on 4 March 2016.

Plant was born in Woodville, Derbyshire, the only child of Ralph and Marjorie (née Langton) Lunn who were village shopkeepers.