Science and the Politics of Toxic Chemical Regulation: U.S. and European Contrasts

Abstract

As technically complex issues become increasingly prominent on the political agendas of industrialized societies, new patterns in the relationship of science and government emerge. Required to make decisions that must balance the expected rewards of technological advancement with the apparent need for technological controls, public officials turn to science to clarify the parameters of public choice and to point the way toward danger-free prosperity. But, more often than not, science appears to offer little help in avoiding or calming the political turbulence that can surround these complex issues. In many cases, it seems to have the opposite effect. The highly publicized disputes over toxic chemicals, from DDT and saccharin to Love Canal and formaldehyde, illustrate well the dynamics of the process: