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Book Cover
E-book
Author Vogel, Sarah A. (Sarah Ann), 1974-

Title Is it safe? : BPA and the struggle to define the safety of chemicals / Sarah A. Vogel
Published Berkeley : University of California Press, 2012

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Description 1 online resource (327 pages) : illustrations, portraits
Contents Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; List of Illustrations; List of Abbreviations; Measurements; Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. Plastic Food; 2. The "Toxicity Crisis" of the 1960s and 1970s; 3. Regulatory Toxicity Testing and Environmental Estrogens; 4. Endocrine Disruption; 5. The Low-Dose Debate; 6. Battles over Bisphenol A; Epilogue; Notes; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; X; Y; Z
Summary We are all just a little bit plastic. Traces of bisphenol A or BPA, a chemical used in plastics production, are widely detected in our bodies and environment. Is this chemical, and its presence in the human body, safe? What is meant by safety? Who defines it, and according to what information? /i/Is It Safe?//i/ narrates how the meaning of the safety of industrial chemicals has been historically produced by breakthroughs in environmental health research, which in turn trigger contests among trade associations, lawyers, politicians, and citizen activists to set new regulatory standards. Drawing on archival research and extensive interviews, author Sarah Vogel explores the roots of the contemporary debate over the safety of BPA, and the concerns presented by its estrogen-like effects even at low doses. Ultimately, she contends that science alone cannot resolve the political and economic conflicts at play in the definition of safety. To strike a sustainable balance between the interests of commerce and public health requires recognition that powerful interests will always try to shape the criteria for defining safety, and that the agenda for environmental health research should be protected from capture by any single interest group
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Social medicine.
Environmental health.
Phenols -- Toxicology
Chemicals -- Safety measures.
Chemicals -- Law and legislation.
Politics, Practical.
Economics.
Politics
Environmental Exposure -- standards
Environmental Exposure -- legislation & jurisprudence
Endocrine Disruptors -- toxicity
Economics
Phenols -- toxicity
politics.
economics.
MEDICAL -- Toxicology.
HEALTH & FITNESS -- Health Care Issues.
Politics, Practical
Economics
Chemicals -- Law and legislation
Chemicals -- Safety measures
Environmental health
Phenols -- Toxicology
Social medicine
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780520954205
0520954203
1283804344
9781283804349
0520273575
9780520273573
0520273583
9780520273580