Frames in the Toxicity Controversy

There is a great deal of controversy about how to deal with man-made chemicals. Environmentalists and industrialists throughout the world clash on such subjects as chlorine, PVC, endocrine disrupters and the precautionary principle. This book tries to untangle the controversy. Three chapters relate to long-term evaluations in two hot-spots in the toxicity controversy - the debates on chlorine in the Netherlands and PVC in Sweden. The text adopts a political and philosophical view, presenting a thorough theoretical analysis of the potential of scientific research to solve controversies, and evaluating the history of the chlorine and PVC controversies. The book combines the quantitative analytical approaches of environmental science with qualitative approaches of policy sciences and the philosophy of science, such as frame analysis, cultural theory, and discourse theory.