Laypeople have long been the primary discoverers of health problems that are attributable to occupational and environmental exposures. Beginning in the 1980s they also showed themselves to be capable participants in environmental health research, as with the Woburn leukemia cluster. In earlier years, we saw mainly localized "popular epidemiology" approaches. Now, we see both local and national levels of "citizen-science alliances" (CSAs) that address environmental factors in such areas as asthma, breast cancer, and Gulf War illnesses. CSAs draw on interdisciplinary work that integrates diverse sources in order to obtain more holistic and comprehensive models of health and the environment. They take up broad-ranging approaches, such as the precautionary principle, which point for a large array of health effects from excessive use of chemicals. Advocates and professionals involved in such innovative approaches have expanded their concerns to include other health effects and social sectors. For example, some asthma activists employ an environmental justice approach that addresses housing community economic development, and transportation as part of a larger package of social factors in disease. For another example, some breast cancer activists use the precautionary principle to expand their concerns to other chemical-related problem. Even though not all CSAs will find results linking environmental factors and disease, they are springboards for new theories and method. And, very importantly, they are a source for the overall democratization of science, and by extension, the general democratization of society.
Learning Objectives: to follow
Keywords: Environment, Community
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.