Chemical Consequences

Environmental Mutagens, Scientist Activism, and the Rise of Genetic Toxicology

By Scott Frickel

Rutgers University Press

Hereis the first historical and sociological account of the formation of an interdisciplinary science known as genetic toxicology, and of the scientists’ social movement that created it.

After research geneticists discovered that synthetic chemicals were capable of changing the genetic structure of living organisms, scientists began to explore how these chemicals affected gene structure and function. In the late 1960s, a small group of biologists became concerned that chemical mutagens represented a serious and possibly global environmental threat.

Genetic toxicology is nurtured as much by public culture as by professional practices, reflecting the interplay of genetics research and environmental politics. Drawing on a wealth of resources, Scott Frickel examines the creation of this field through the lens of social movement theory. He reveals how a committed group of scientist-activists transformed chemical mutagens into environmental problems, mobilized existing research networks, recruited scientists and politicians, secured financial resources, and developed new ways of acquiring knowledge. The result is a book that vividly illustrates how science and activism were interwoven to create a discipline that remains a defining feature of environmental health science.

Dr. Frickel has described in clear and elegant prose a complex set of scientific developments and social interactions that reveal how a new scientific field (genetic toxicology) was born, flourished, and matured. A fascinating look at the interactions among scientists beyond the lab bench. David M. DeMarini,Ph.D., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

In this clear, engaging and important study, Frickel tracks the rise of an activist science, in the process reframing our understanding of science and public culture. M. Susan Lindee, Department of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania

Chemical Consequences is a well-written, interesting, and informative study of the development of genetic toxicology. An important addition to the literature in the social studies of science, this book is a useful scholarly bridge to toxicologists as well. David H. Guston, author of Between Politics and Science: Assuring the Integrity and Productivity of Research

SCOTT FRICKEL is an assistant professor of sociology at Tulane University. Chemical Consequences is his first book.

List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgements
1. Situating genetic toxicology
2. Working on mutations
3. Making room for environmental mutagens
4. A wave of scientist collective action
5. Framing scientist activism
6. Organizing a scientists' movement
7. Conclusion : environmental knowledge politics in practice
App. A. Scientists interviewed
App. B. Timeline of institutionalizing events in environmental mutagenesis/genetic toxicology, 1964-1976
Notes
Bibliography
Index

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