Is It Safe?: BPA and the Struggle to Define the Safety of Chemicals

Sarah A. Vogel

Published by University of California Press 2012

Is It Safe?

BPA and the Struggle to Define the Safety of Chemicals

Sarah A. Vogel

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520954205

Overview
Contents

About this book

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? Is It Safe? 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.

Author / Editor information

Vogel Sarah A. :

Sarah Vogel is Managing Director of the Health program at the Environmental Defense Fund

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Measurements Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Plastic Food Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
2. The “Toxicity Crisis” of the 1960s and 1970s Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
3. Regulatory Toxicity Testing and Environmental Estrogens Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
4. Endocrine Disruption: New Science, New Risks Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	104
5. The Low-Dose Debate Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
6. Battles over Bisphenol A Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273