Drawing the Battle Lines: Tracing the “Science War” in the Construction of the Chloroform and Human Health Risks Debate |
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Authors: | S MICHELLE DRIEDGER JOHN EYLES |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Geography, University of Ottawa, 60 University Private, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1S 6N5, CA;(2) School of Geography and Geology, McMaster Institute of Environment and Health, 1280 Main Street West, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4K1, CA |
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Abstract: | The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and the Chlorine Chemistry Council, the Chemical Manufacturers
Association, and others have been embroiled in a legal challenge concerning the US EPA's “reversal” regarding the scientific
assessment of chloroform's carcinogenicity. This issue arose during the US EPA's November 1998 promulgation of a Maximum Contaminant
Level Goal for chloroform in the Stage 1 Final Rules for Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts in drinking water. In this
paper we adopt a claimsmaking approach: to trace the development and outcome of the chloroform court challenge in the USA,
to examine the construction of scientific knowledge claims concerning chloroform risk assessments, and to investigate how
different interpretations of scientific uncertainties regarding the evidence are contested when such uncertainties are brought
into a regulatory and judicial arena. This “science war” (Chlorine Chemistry Council and others v. US EPA and others) took
place in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The scientific “authority” in the construction of scientific
claims in this dispute is based on the International Life Sciences Institute expert panel report on chloroform. Examining
these science wars is important because they signal critical shifts in science policy agendas. The regulatory outcome of the
chloroform science war in the United States can have profound implications for the construction and acceptance of scientific
claims regarding drinking water in other jurisdictions (e.g., Canada). In this challenge, we argue that the actors involved
in the dispute constructed “boundaries” around accepted and credible scientific claims. |
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Keywords: | : Scientific claimsmaking boundary work Risk construction US EPA Chloroform Chlorine |
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