Opening the Black Box of Risk: Strategic Science Translation in Chemical Blacklists

• In Event: 346 - Regular Session. Sociology of Science 1

Abstract

Risk assessment practices matter greatly for public and environmental health, yet chemical assessments typically arrive at supposedly unambiguous evaluations of risk—the substance poses a risk or it does not—only after numerous decision points influenced by disciplinary cultures, institutional trajectories, and individual subjectivities. One such area of chemical risk assessment is the creation of so-called chemical “blacklists” in regulatory, industry, or activist sectors, lists of substances that are banned, restricted, or identified as risky in some way. These lists are generally derided by chemical manufacturers, praised by environmental activists, and cautiously utilized by product manufacturers seeking to stay ahead of restrictive regulations. In this paper, I integrate scholarship on scientization, the scientific field, and the “black box” of scientific and regulatory practices to analyze how chemical blacklists measure and discuss chemical risk and safety. I draw on in-depth interviews, participant observation at meetings and conferences related to chemical risk assessment practices, and content analysis of blacklists. Using the concept of strategic science translation, I show that chemical blacklists provide a convenient tool for decision-makers to quickly evaluate chemical risk by drawing on an-already assembled body of knowledge. However, this already-assembled quality leaves blacklists open to strategic presentations that magnify or minimize the assessed risk. This demonstrates the practical value of applying sociology of science and STS theories for practitioners in regulatory, industry, and advocacy sectors. Stakeholders need access to information about how blacklists are curated and how information is evaluated and synthesized if such lists are to be useful.

Author

• Alissa Cordner, Whitman College