| Author: | Arnold Tukker |
| Title: | Frames in the Toxicity Controversy: Based on the Dutch chlorine debate and the Swedish PVC debate |
| Institution: | Tilburg University |
| Date: | November, 1998 |
| Advisor: | J. M. Cramer |
| Key Words: | chlorine, PVC, life-cycle assessment, substance flow analysis, risk assessment, policy sciences, philosophy of sciences, frame analysis, discourse analysis, advocacy coalition approach |
| How to Obtain: | 400 p. Hardbound, ISBN 0-7923-554-7
Kluwer Academic Publishers P.O. Box 322 3300 AH Dordrecht The Netherlands Price to be announced. Contact the order department at services@wkap.nl. for information (tel. + 31 78 6392392, fax + 31 6546474) |
| Abstract: | There is a great deal of controversy about how to deal with man-made
chemicals. Environmentalists and industrialists throughout the world are
clashing on such subjects as chlorine, PVC, endocrine disrupters and the
precautionary principle.
In this book Tukker, a chemist by training, tries to untangle the controversy. Three chapters relate to major environmental evaluations that he led into two hot-spots in the toxicity controversy. Toxicological risk assessment (RA), life-cycle assessment (LCA) and substance flow analysis (SFA) are applied to analyse the environmental risks related to all emissions from the Dutch chlorine chain and the Swedish PVC-chain. Furthermore, the book analyses the debate from a political-philosophical viewpoint. It presents a thorough theoretical analysis of the potential of scientific research to solve controversies. Drawing upon approaches developed in policy sciences such as frame analysis, cultural theory, discourse theory, etc., he evaluates the history of the chlorine and PVC controversies. Tukker addresses such questions as: How can debates on toxic substances be structures? What role can science play? How should evaluation tools, like toxicological risk assessment (RA), life-cycle assessment (LCA) and substance flow analysis (SFA) be used in this context? How are the core views of the different actor coalitions structured? Will it ever be possible to develop a stable toxicity policy? The book is a rare example of a combination of the quantitative analytical approaches drawn from environmental science with qualitative approaches drawn from policy sciences and the philosophy of science. An accessible analysis of the toxicity debate that will enable scientists, policy makers and others to place their roles in a much wider context within the decision making process. Contents:
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