Description
Book SynopsisA bold exposé of how the very foundation of toxicology has been contaminated by sexist and racist ideologiesThe first critical understanding of the field of toxicology from a feminist and antiracist perspective, Toxic Sexual Politics asserts that the science of toxicants must be held accountable for the uneven distribution of toxic pollution along racial and sexual lines. Drawing upon in-depth interviews and extensive ethnographic and archival research, including participant observations in toxicology classrooms, conferences, and laboratories, Melina Packer urges environmental health advocates to place toxicant science within its masculinist, militarist, and eugenicist history. Toxic Sexual Politics shows how the founding fathers of U.S. toxicology were ideologically aligned with the chemical industry, inventing a science that could make chemicals safe, as opposed to one that could adequately protect planetary health from toxicants' hazards. While many toxicologists today are critica