IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/riskan/v22y2002i4p789-802.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Constructing Scientific Authorities: Issue Framing of Chlorinated Disinfection Byproducts in Public Health

Author

Listed:
  • S. Michelle Driedger
  • John Eyles
  • Susan D. Elliott
  • Donald C. Cole

Abstract

The practice of chlorine disinfection of drinking water to reduce microbial risks provides substantial benefits to public health. However, increasing concern around potential risks of cancer associated with exposure to chlorinated disinfection byproducts confuses this issue. This article examines the science agenda regarding chlorinated disinfection byproducts (CDBP) and cancer in Canada and the United States, focusing on the social construction of scientific knowledge claims and evidence. Data for this analysis were obtained from published documents as well as from in‐depth interviews with epidemiologists and toxicologists centrally involved with the issue in both countries. Results of the analysis suggest that toxicological scientists want to close the door on the “chloroform issue” due to increasing evidence that chloroform is safe at low doses, because epidemiological scientists can no longer move forward the cancer science until significant improvements can be made in assessing human exposures, and because the scientific foci of research on DBP have shifted accordingly. Further, a distinction emerges in terms of how scientific uncertainties are interpreted when they cross‐cut disciplines in the context of human health risk assessment. We suggest this tension reflects a balance of how uncertainty and authorities are managed in a mandated science‐policy domain. Sufficient evidence was provided to keep the DBP issue on the regulatory agenda and to generate additional research, yet authorities and concomitant interpretations of uncertainty were contested. Such science generation and contestation inevitably influences complex risk assessment processes with respect to what water‐related health risks are addressed and how.

Suggested Citation

  • S. Michelle Driedger & John Eyles & Susan D. Elliott & Donald C. Cole, 2002. "Constructing Scientific Authorities: Issue Framing of Chlorinated Disinfection Byproducts in Public Health," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(4), pages 789-802, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:riskan:v:22:y:2002:i:4:p:789-802
    DOI: 10.1111/0272-4332.00069
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/0272-4332.00069
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/0272-4332.00069?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Morris, R.D. & Audet, A.-M. & Angelillo, I.F. & Chalmers, T.C. & Mosteller, F., 1992. "Chlorination, chlorination by-products, and cancer: A meta-analysis," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 82(7), pages 955-963.
    2. John Eyles & S. Martin Taylor & Jamie Baxter & Doug Sider & Dennis Willms, 1993. "The Social Construction of Risk in a Rural Community: Responses of Local Residents to the 1990 Hagersville (Ontario) Tire Fire," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(3), pages 281-290, June.
    3. Frederick, Donald A., 1998. "Letters," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 13(1), pages 1-1.
    4. Gail Charnley & John D. Graham & Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. & Jason Shogren, 2000. "1998 Annual Meeting Plenary Session: Assessing and Managing Risks in a Democratic Society," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(3), pages 301-316, June.
    5. Koivusalo, M. & Jaakkola, J.J.K. & Vartiainen, T. & Hakulinen, T. & Karjalainen, S. & Pukkala, E. & Tuomisto, J., 1994. "Drinking water mutagenicity and gastrointestinal and urinary tract cancers: An ecological study in Finland," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 84(8), pages 1223-1228.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jeffrey R. Masuda & Theresa Garvin, 2006. "Place, Culture, and the Social Amplification of Risk," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 437-454, April.
    2. S Michelle Driedger & John Eyles, 2003. "Charting Uncertainty in Science-Policy Discourses: The Construction of the Chlorinated Drinking-Water Issue and Cancer," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 21(3), pages 429-444, June.
    3. Royce A. Francis, 2015. "Elusive Critical Elements of Transformative Risk Assessment Practice and Interpretation: Is Alternatives Analysis the Next Step?," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(11), pages 1983-1995, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stuart Landon & Constance E. Smith, 2003. "The Risk Premium, Exchange Rate Expectations, and the Forward Exchange Rate: Estimates for the Yen–Dollar Rate," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(1), pages 144-158, February.
    2. Prakash Poudel & Saurav Sharma & Mohamed Nainar Mohamed Ansari & Pushpendra Kumar & Sobhy M. Ibrahim & Rahul Vaish & Rajeev Kumar & Paramanandam Thomas, 2022. "The Bacterial Disinfection of Water Using a Galloping Piezoelectric Wind Energy Harvester," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-16, August.
    3. Michelle M. Vine & Kate Mulligan & Rachel Harris & Jennifer L. Dean, 2023. "The Impact of Health Geography on Public Health Research, Policy, and Practice in Canada," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(18), pages 1-14, September.
    4. Raquel Camprubi, 2024. "Residents’ Risk Perception in Developing Destinations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-10, April.
    5. Baaijens, Sef & Nijkamp, Peter, 2000. "Meta-Analytic Methods for Comparative and Exploratory Policy Research: An Application to the Assessment of Regional Tourist Multipliers," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 22(7), pages 821-858, December.
    6. James Lambrinos & Thomas D. Ashman, 2007. "Salary Determination in the National Hockey League Is Arbitration Efficient?," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 8(2), pages 192-201, May.
    7. Peng Zhou & Long Tian & Nigel Graham & Shian Song & Renzun Zhao & Muhammad Saboor Siddique & Ying Hu & Xianyong Cao & Yonglong Lu & Menachem Elimelech & Wenzheng Yu, 2024. "Spatial patterns and environmental functions of dissolved organic matter in grassland soils of China," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:riskan:v:22:y:2002:i:4:p:789-802. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1539-6924 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.