TERM 1
1. If there is growing evidence of a link
between asthma and exposure to smaller air
particles, why have regulatory practices only
dealt with larger particles?
DEFINITION 1
Evidence is growing that small, unreg ulated air particles are
causing increased asthma and other diseases. 50 to 60 thousand
deaths a year are caused by exposu re to air particles under 10
microns, but regulatory practices dea l only with larger particles.
Poor, minority groups are especially vu lnerable. There is corporate
and government resistance to ackn owledge responsibility for air
pollution effects on health. Industry lo bbying groups and their
scientists are resistant of the regulat ory changes that would result
from research on small particles.
TERM 2
2. Why does Brown suggest that the current
explanations for higher asthma rates are not
helpful? Why are children underdiagnosed?
DEFINITION 2
Current explanations for increases in asthma may not be useful (ie. Changes in
disease severity, diagnostic substitution of bro nchitis and other respiratory
illnesses by asthma or diffs in supply and ch aracter of medical care) because
these would all point to a reasonably uniform national trend. Findings show great
variation, ie. Hispanics has annual increases of 6.8%, white non-hispanics a
decrease by 0.9%, low-income zip codes sh owed largest increases, etc. Children
may be underdiagnosed in one study, undiagnosed asthma was found in 14.2%
of all students in 2 schools. Asthmatic child ren have more learning disabilities
and grade failure. Asthma is financially burden some. Despite growing concern,
there is little public health recognition of the crisis. Some researchers attribute
asthma increase to poor health care, but ther e is growing support for a linkage to
air pollution.
TERM 3
3. Research on Gulf War Syndrome is plagued
by poor data and disputes over how to study
health effects. Veterans faced multiple
potential sources of disease and the records
of their exposure to chemicals used by US
military are missing. What role has citizen
action played in influencing the direction of
research?
DEFINITION 3
Veterans are caught up in the politics of med ical research and diagnostic
uncertainty, so they are unable to legitimate their illnesses. Citizen activists
acquire scientific knowledge by joining toget her with experts who have
abandoned their allegiance to corporate/govt s ponsors. Ordinary, nonprofessional
people are playing pioneering roles in areas s uch as environmental causes of
breast cancer, effects of air pollution on envir onmental diseases. Laypeople have
been self-educated, self-organized and have s ucceeded at scientifically
identifying environmentally induced diseases and their likely causes. Citizens
assume that human experience is a valid m ode of knowing the world, and they
challenge normal sciences claim to value n eutrality. They acknowledge that their
research is value-driven. Citizen action is nec essary because govt agencies and
professionals often side with business in ac tively opposing connections between
health and the environment.
TERM 4
4. What role do race and class play in the
examples considered in the higher asthma
rates and Gulf War syndrome?
DEFINITION 4
Asthma black children were 20% and poor childre n 10% more
likely to have asthma. Poor children h ospitalized 40% more often
than others. In poor and minority area s, rates are higher. These
groups must be exposed to more sma ll air particles (air pollution).
Gulf war syndrome the majority of g round troops fighting in wars
are young, relatively uneducated, an d often poor.
TERM 5
5. Think about how the debate about
organochlorines and cancer raises questions
of economic, political and social
responsibility. In what ways has the endocrine
disrupter debate caused a quiet revolution in
science and policy related to chemical risk?
DEFINITION 5
Breast cancer activists argue that synthetic es trogens are potentially able to
disrupt the bodys endocrine system, interferi ng with its ability to deliver
hormones to the blood stream. Research ha s revealed inconsistent results, but
this precautionary approach sees an obligation to control the dangerous
substances even before there is a definitive causal link to health effects. Has led
to EPA creation of a testing program to evalua te a large number of chemical for
their estrogenicity first time a govt agency has decided to examine a major
proportion of chemicals now in use. Has als o influenced the Food Quality
Protection Act, and an Act to screen and test drinking water for endocrine
disrupting chemicals, and others.
