The politics and science of health and disease remain contested terrain among scientists, health practitioners, policy makers, industry, communities, and the public. This book asserts that science, activism, and policy are not separate issues and shows how the contribution of environmental factors in disease is often overlooked.

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Part One. Setting the Stage: Introduction, Theory, Methods 1. Introduction: Environmental Justice and Contested Illnesses Rachel Morello-Frosch, Phil Brown, and Stephen Zavestoski 2. Embodied Health Movements Phil Brown, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Stephen Zavestoski, Sabrina McCormick, Brian Mayer, Rebecca Gasior Altman, Crystal Adams, Elizabeth Hoover, and Ruth Simpson 3. Qualitative Approaches in Environmental Health Research Phil Brown 4. Getting into the Field: New Approaches to Research Methods Phil Brown, Rachel Morello-Frosch, and Stephen Zavestoski 5. Environmental Justice and the Precautionary Principle: Air Toxics Exposures and Health Risks among Schoolchildren in Los Angeles Rachel Morello-Frosch, Manuel Pastor, and James Sadd Part Two. Working in the Environmental Health Field: Ethnographic Studies 6. A Narrowing Gulf of Difference? Disputes and Discoveries in the Study of Gulf War--Related Illnesses Phil Brown, Stephen Zavestoski, Alissa Cordner, Sabrina McCormick, Joshua Mandelbaum, Theo Luebke, and Meadow Linder 7. The Health Politics of Asthma: Environmental Justice and Collective Illness Experience Phil Brown, Brian Mayer, Stephen Zavestoski, Theo Luebke, Joshua Mandelbaum, Sabrina McCormick, and Mercedes Lyson 8. Pollution Comes Home and Gets Personal: Women's Experience of Household Chemical Exposure Rebecca Gasior Altman, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Julia Green Brody, Ruthann A. Rudel, Phil Brown, and Mara Averick 9. The Personal Is Scientific, the Scientific Is Political: The Public Paradigm of the Environmental Breast Cancer Movement Sabrina McCormick, Phil Brown, Stephen Zavestoski, and Alissa Cordner 10. School Custodians and Green Cleaners: Labor-Environmental Coalitions and Toxics Reduction Laura Senier, Brian Mayer, Phil Brown, and Rachel Morello-Frosch 11. Labor-Environmental Coalition Formation: Framing and the Right to Know Brian Mayer, Phil Brown, and Rachel Morello-Frosch 12. The Brown Superfund Research Program: A Multistakeholder Partnership Addresses Problems in Contaminated Communities Laura Senier, Benjamin Hudson, Sarah Fort, Elizabeth Hoover, Rebecca Tillson, and Phil Brown Part Three. Ethical Considerations 13. Toxic Ignorance and the Right to Know: Biomonitoring Results Communication; A Survey of Scientists and Study Participants Rachel Morello-Frosch, Julia Green Brody, Phil Brown, Rebecca Gasior Altman, Ruthann A. Rudel, Carla Perez, and Alison Cohen 14. IRB Challenges in Community-Based Participatory Research on Human Exposure to Environmental Toxics: A Case Study Phil Brown, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Julia Green Brody, Rebecca Gasior Altman, Ruthann A. Rudel, Laura Senier, Carla Perez, and Ruth Simpson 15. Conclusion Phil Brown, Rachel Morello-Frosch, and Stephen Zavestoski Appendix: Contested Illnesses Research Group's Nuts and Bolts and Lessons Learned Laura Senier, Rebecca Gasior Altman, Rachel Morello-Frosch, and Phil Brown References List of Contributors Index For additional appendixes, see www.ucpress.edu/go/contestedillnesses

“Contested Illnesses is filled with brilliant ground breaking work at the frontier of environmental health and justice. Phil Brown and his colleagues, all leaders in their fields, address the critical issues in science and sociology of the epidemic of environmental illnesses we all face. This necessary book will be essential reading for scientists, patient advocates and all those engaged in the greatest public health issues of our time.”--Michael Lerner, President of Commonweal and Co-founder of the Collaborative on Health and the Environment“Contested Illnesses has elevated “community-based participatory research” to a high standard of theory and practice. The work provides a deep understanding of cultural conflicts in disease causation and sets a new path for interdisciplinary environmental research. The “Contested Illness Research Group” will be modeled whenever public interest science partners with communities to assess and improve environmental health."--Sheldon Krimsky, co-author of Genetic Justice: DNA Databanks, Criminal Investigations and Civil Liberties"The work of the Contested Illnesses Research Group draws on an unusually diverse set of theoretical traditions, and this volume does a nice job of showing how the pieces fit together. It has a coherence of voice that reflects years of collaboration." --Steven Epstein, author of Inclusion: The Politics of Difference in Medical Research