9412973 Krimsky This research project will examine scientific and ethical and social factors in the evolution of and policy responses to a controversial hypothesis linking environmental estrogenic chemicals to a variety of animal and human disorders and pathologies. The Environmental Estrogen Hypothesis (EEH) postulates that a sizeable class of chemicals including antioxidants, plasticizers, detergents, and pesticides mimic the action of endogenous biological estrogens, hormones that play a central role in sexual maturation and reproduction, thereby making these chemicals suspect in male sexual abnormalities and reduced fertility rates in humans and wildlife, metabolic disorders in birds, fish and mammals, and cancer in humans. The research involves collection and analysis of relevant scientific and popular literature and interviews of scientists, regulators, policymakers, and representatives of non- governmental organizations. The investigators will study the factors that determine whether the estrogen hypothesis emerges as a major public policy issue, remains dormant in the public agenda, or is dismissed for lack of evidentiary support. The scope of the study includes an analysis of how the environmental estrogen issues are being framed, how the hypothesis is presented and communicated to the public by scientists, the sources of controversy among scientists, and the impact of the hypothesis on public policy. The value dimensions to be examined include: moral and ethical judgments by scientists and their articulation of social responsibility with respect to the hypothesis; implicit values and norms in the selections of scientific methodologies of those advocating or criticizing the hypothesis; and the ethical and value dimensions associated with the implications of the hypothesis for sexuality, masculinity and femininity, and species extinction in the social mind. The results of this study will contribute to the theoretical discussion on risk selection and communication by tracking and examining a potentially high-profile risk event. They will advance our knowledge of the roles of scientists in shaping public policy and their conceptions of social responsibility. They will provide insights into conceptions of various social groups about ethical and value implications of particular kinds of risks, and about the normative factors involved in scientific contributions to risk assessment. The investigators will produce articles reporting on these results, and make presentations at relevant conferences and meetings. ***
