This short piece stems from personal experience about the environmental harm caused by one of the biggest former asbestos facilities, Eternit, located in the small Belgian rural village of Kapelleop-den-Bos. Combined with an academic perspective, this piece highlights the relevance of environmental restorative justice in addressing the violations and harms experienced by asbestos victims. It brings to light the struggles of victim associations to challenge the power, and complete lack of accountability of (former) asbestos producing companies worldwide and offers an understanding of strategies used to promote immunity to the powerful.
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Corporate Crime and the Use of Science in the Case of Asbestos: Producing Harm Through Discursive Shields
This article focuses on the normalization of victimization and harms caused by asbestos, a carcinogenic mineral fiber. To understand the role played by science in hiding the wounds and deaths caused by corporations, the article starts presenting the example of Brazil, where scientific discourse of foreign experts with industry ties are influencing regulation. From there, I examine the disputes for truth in six different medical journals through grounded theory. The results show that authors use some strategies to achieve credibility: avoiding to acknowlegde industry funding; constructing a specific meaning for the controversy about asbestos risks; and reflecting about the consequences os research misconducts. The ways of thinking about asbestos riks and harms are migrating through the international division of scientific labor, both to spread harm and to avoid liability of powerful agents.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1827951
- PAR ID:
- 10397740
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of White Collar and Corporate Crime
- Volume:
- 2
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 2631-309X
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 81 to 96
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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