Powerless Science Science and Politics in a Toxic World [Paperback]

In spite of decades of research on toxicants, along with the growing role of scientific expertise in public policy and the unprecedented rise in the number of national and international institutions dealing with environmental health issues, problems surrounding contaminants and their effects on health have never appeared so important, sometimes to the point of appearing insurmountable. This calls for a reconsideration of the roles of scientific knowledge and expertise in the definition and management of toxic issues, which this book seeks to do. It looks at complex historical, social, and political dynamics, made up of public controversies, environmental and health crises, economic interests, and political responses, and demonstrates how and to what extent scientific knowledge about toxicants has been caught between scientific, economic, and political imperatives.

Nathalie Jasis a Senior Researcher at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA). A historian and a STS scholar, her scholarly work analyses the intensification of agriculture and its social, environmental, and health effects. She has co-edited a special issue ofHistory and Technology, Risk and risk Society in Historical Perspective (2007), andToxicants, Health and RegulationsSince 1945(Pickering & Chatto, 2013), both with Soraya Boudia.

List of Figures
Acknowledgements

Introduction:Greatness and Misery of Science in a Toxic World
Soraya Boudia and Nathalie Jas

PART I?: KNOWLEDGE, EXPERTISE AND THE TRANSFORMATIONS IN REGULATORY SYSTEMS

Chapter 1.Precaution and the History of Endocrine Disruptors
Nancy Langston

Chapter 2.The Political Life of Mutagens: A Histol(