Description
Book SynopsisMarketed as a life-saving advancement, flame retardants are now mired in controversy. Alissa Cordner describes how stakeholders use scientific evidence to support nonscientific goals.
Toxic Safety demonstrates that while all parties interested in health issues use science to support their claims, they do not compete on a level playing field.
Trade ReviewToxic Safety is an excellent contribution to environmental and medical social science, and it will be of interest to scholars in sociology, anthropology, and environmental studies. It is also and important resource for activists involved in civic movements for environmental health and environmental justice and for anyone motivated to build a society free of toxic substances. * American Journal of Sociology *
Toxic Safety is expansive and detailed; it is well written, and the story is told with clarity and conviction; and it sheds considerable light on the history of the flame retardant industry and the conflicting interests surrounding the use and regulation of flame retardant chemicals, as well as the limitations of science in environmental policymaking. This is an essential book for environmental sociologists interested in risk and environmental policy. -- R. Scott Frey * Contemporary Sociology *
An important, well-documented, and well-told account. Recommended. * Choice *
Toxic Safety makes an important contribution to questions about how we regulate environmental chemicals and how stakeholders shape this process. The book will be of interest to a range of readers, including environmental sociologists, public health advocates, and those interested in the politics of flame retardants and environmental health. It could usefully be assigned in advanced undergraduate courses and graduate seminars that address environmental politics. -- Rachel Washburn * Medical Anthropology Quarterly *
How could a class of chemicals as dangerous to health and limited in usefulness as flame retardants have become as widespread as they have? How could scientists, advocates, legislators, firefighters, and others mount an effective campaign to curb their use?
Toxic Safety tells this story with great finesse, while setting the bar for research on chemical controversy. Cordner's notion of 'strategic science translation' and her elaboration of multiple approaches to risk will be standards for future environmental and public health scholars. -- Phil Brown, author of
Toxic Exposures: Contested Illnesses and the Environmental Health MovementThe flame retardant controversy serves as a fascinating case study of how scientific policies are made.
Toxic Safety is a well-researched, well-organized, and well-written real-life example of how science contributes to policy. -- Julie Herbstman, Columbia University
An important contribution to the scholarship of toxic risk. In particular, the innovative methodology and detailed methodological appendix will be enormously valuable for graduate students and established scholars alike. * Social Science Journal *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Abbreviations
1. Uncertain Science and the Fight for Environmental Health
2. Hot Topics: Flame Retardants in the Public Sphere
3. Defending Risk and Defining Safety
4. Strategic Science Translation
5. Negotiating Science
6. Science of Advocacy
Conclusion: The Pursuit of Chemical Justice
Appendix. Playing the Field: Methodological Reflections
Notes
References
Index
