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By Valerie Brown and Elizabeth Grossman, In These Times
We all are exposed to toxic chemicals in our daily products every day, but none more so than workers in the chemical, nuclear, oil, paper, and other manufacturing industries. This investigative piece details how chemical companies are able to thwart needed regulation to avoid costs, litigation and decreased profits. It discusses how industry manipulates science and the revolving door between industry and federal regulatory agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency. Most importantly, In These Times gives readers access to the original source documents this investigative article is based on. The bottom line: As Washington State University geneticist Pat Hunt told In These Times, “If we wait [to make regulatory decisions] for ‘proof’ in the form of compelling human data, it may be too late for us as a species.”
Scientists are trained to express themselves rationally. They avoid personal attacks when they disagree. But some scientific arguments become so polarized that tempers fray. There may even be shouting.
Such is the current state of affairs between two camps of scientists: health effects researchers and regulatory toxicologists. Both groups study the effects of chemical exposures in humans. Both groups have publicly used terms like “irrelevant,” “arbitrary,” “unfounded” and “contrary to all accumulated physiological understanding” to describe the other’s work. Privately, the language becomes even harsher, with phrases such as “a pseudoscience,” “a religion” and “rigged” … more
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