Jane Plant

Example of a map created by the G-BASE This map is based on analysis of 1154 shallow (0.05 – 0.25 m) soil samples collected at varying densities. Jane Anne Plant CBE, FREng, FRSE, FRSA (1 February 1945 – 4 March 2016) was a British 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. 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.

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

Early life Plant was born in Woodville, Derbyshire, the only child of Ralph and Marjorie (née Langton) Lunn who were village shopkeepers. She attended 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. She was the first woman to be appointed to a Scientific Officer role 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 research led to many of the protocols used in today's geochemical mapping projects worldwide. 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." She recommended that cancer patients take conventional treatment but also adopt a dairy-free diet. Plant found that there are three belts of alpine type ultramafic rocks in the Scottish Highlands. Each of these rocks are associated with a change of sedimentation and structural style.

A more recent article, looked at the relationship between synthetic chemicals and increased pollution in the environment and the impact on both humans and the Earth's ecosystems. An emphasis is placed on the risk perception of radioactivity in society, which is found to be quite dangerous. Plant's article also advocates for the expansion of processes like “biomimicry” and green chemistry to attempt to reduce waste and impact on the environment.

2012: Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering 2005: A life Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine 2005: Honorary doctorate of the University of Leicester 2005: An Honorary Doctor of Sciences degree from Keele University 2004: Honorary Doctorate of Åbo Akademi University, Finland 2003: An Honorary Doctor of Sciences Degree from Kingston University for services to Environment and Earth Sciences 2002: Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 2001: Honorary Doctorate of the University of Exeter, for services to Earth Sciences 2000: Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts 1999: Freeman of the City of London 1999: Lord Lloyd of Kilgerran Award of the Foundation for Science and Technology for the application of science and technology for the benefit of society 1997: CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for Services to Earth Sciences 1997: Honorary Doctorate of the Open University (for academic and scholarly distinction) 1985: The Murchison Fund of the Geological Society

Selected publications

Your Life In Your Hands – Understanding, Preventing And Overcoming Breast Cancer by Jane Plant (2000) The Plant Programme by Jane Plant and Gill Tidey (2001) Understanding, Preventing And Overcoming Osteoporosis by Jane Plant and Gill Tidey (2003) Prostate Cancer – Understand, Prevent And Overcome by Jane Plant (2004) Eating for Better Health: The Plant Programme by Jane Plant and Gill Tidey (2005) Beating Stress, Anxiety, and Depression by Jane Plant and Janet Stephenson (2008) Pollutants, Human health, and the Environment edited by Jane Plant, Nick Voulvoulis, and K. Vala Ragnarsdottir (2012) Beat Cancer: How to Regain Control of Your Health and Your Life by Mustafa Djamgoz and Jane A. Plant (2014)