Issue 2001
Interviews

Sylvia Noble Tesh: Uncertain Hazards

Abstract

Trained as a political scientist, Sylvia Tesh is presently a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Political Science and in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. Her latest book Uncertain Hazards: Environmental Activists and Scientific Proof builds upon earlier research into scientific debates about the toxicity of Agent Orange in Hidden Arguments: Political Ideology and Disease Prevention Policy. Tesh makes the case that the scientists conducting scientific research are influenced by values that orient the framing of research questions and analysis of data. Uncertain Hazards became a finalist for the C.Wright Mills Award for 2000 as a book that critically addressed an issue of contemporary public importance, brought to the topic a fresh, imaginative perspective, advanced social scientific understanding of the topic, displayed a theoretically informed view and empirical orientation, evinced quality in style of writing, and explicitly or implicitly contained implications for courses of action. In Uncertain Hazards, Tesh reviews cases of contaminated communities where it was difficult for researchers to document the health effects of pollutants, in part because environmental scientists and science were influenced by “pre-environmentalist” assumptions. Nevertheless, Tesh finds that the grassroots movement and the ideas of environmentalists have begun to alter the practice of scientists and their understanding of exposure to industrial pollutants and the health problems faced by communities and individuals. She finds the role of the citizen activist key to exposing the cultural and moral dimensions of scientific disputes about pollution.