Frickel S. Chemical Consequences: Environmental Mutagens, Scientist Activism, and the Rise of Genetic Toxicology

New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. – 2004. – 214 p. This book began its life in courses and research begun in Madison, Wisconsin; was written in Philadelphia; and was completed in New Orleans. It has benefited from the direct and indirect influence of numerous people along the way. How was the scientists’ movement to establish genetic toxicology organized and sustained over time? My answer to that question structures the rest of the book. Chapters 2–4 focus on the political and economic contexts of mutation research and on the social networks and institutions that conditioned the mobilization of genetic toxicology scientist-activists. Chapter 5 examines how scientist-activists, faced with considerable uncertainty about the nature and scope of environmental chemical hazards, made the rhetorical case for genetic toxicology. In Chapter 6, my field of vision shifts from individuals acting collectively to organizations regulating collective action. In the book’s conclusion, Chapter 7, I use this shift in the trajectory of genetic toxicology research as a backdrop for rethinking scientist collective action as a strategy for transforming environmental politics.Situating Genetic Toxicology
Working on Mutations
Making Room for Environmental Mutagens
A Wave of Scientist Collective Action
Framing Scientist Activism
Organizing a Scientists’ Movement
Conclusion: Environmental Knowledge Politics in Practice
Scientists Interviewed
Timeline of Institutionalizing Events in Environmental Mutagenesis/Genetic Toxicology, 1964–1976