Department of Sociology, Whitman College, 345 Boyer Ave. Walla Walla, Washington 99362, USA.
Environ Sci Technol. 2013 Jul 2;47(13):7067-76. doi: 10.1021/es3036237. Epub 2013 Jun 12.
Chemicals that are widely used in consumer products offer challenges to product manufacturers, risk managers, environmental regulators, environmental scientists, and the interested public. However, the factors that cause specific chemicals to rise to the level of regulatory, scientific, and social movement concern and scrutiny are not well documented, and scientists are frequently unclear about exactly how their research impacts policy. Through a case study of advocacy around flame retardant chemicals, this paper traces the pathways through which scientific evidence and concern is marshaled by both advocacy groups and media sources to affect policy change. We focus our analysis around a broad coalition of environmental and public health advocacy organizations and an investigative journalism series published in 2012 in the Chicago Tribune. We demonstrate that the Tribune series both brought the issue to a wider public audience and precipitated government action, including state policy revisions and federal Senate hearings. We also show how a broad and successful flame retardant coalition developed, leveraged a media event, and influenced policy at multiple institutional levels. The analysis draws on over 110 in-depth interviews, literature and Web site reviews, and observations at a flame retardant manufacturing company, government offices, and scientific and advocacy conferences.
广泛应用于消费产品的化学物质给产品制造商、风险管理者、环境监管机构、环境科学家和相关公众带来了挑战。然而，导致特定化学物质上升到监管、科学和社会运动关注和审查水平的因素并没有得到很好的记录，科学家们也经常不清楚他们的研究到底是如何影响政策的。本文通过对阻燃化学品倡导活动的案例研究，追溯了倡导团体和媒体资源如何利用科学证据和关注来影响政策变化的途径。我们的分析集中在一个由环境和公共卫生倡导组织组成的广泛联盟以及 2012 年在《芝加哥论坛报》上发表的一个调查性新闻系列上。我们表明，《论坛报》系列不仅将这个问题带给了更广泛的公众，还促使政府采取了行动，包括州政策修订和联邦参议院听证会。我们还展示了一个广泛而成功的阻燃剂联盟是如何发展的，利用媒体事件，并在多个机构层面影响政策的。该分析借鉴了 110 多次深入访谈、文献和网站评论，以及在阻燃剂制造公司、政府办公室、科学和倡导会议上的观察。
