Dissertation Research: Cancer at Point Hope, Alaska: Science and the Politics of Knowledge

1962年8月，原子能委员会(AEC)授权在阿拉斯加西北海岸的一条小溪附近进行秘密放射性示踪实验。该实验用放射性物质污染了周围地区，AEC对当地社区的人们隐瞒了这一事实。附近的Point Hope社区在污染发生约20年后，癌症发病率开始惊人地上升。针对社区成员的担忧，公共卫生机构在20世纪80年代的S时期进行了三项流行病学研究。虽然这些研究没有发现当地癌症发病率的显著差异，但Point Hopers对这些结论表示怀疑。当地的“传说”长期以来一直集中在村里的癌症和科学家留下的埋藏的毒物之间可能存在的联系。虽然1992年对污染的“发现”似乎证明了Point Hopers的说法是正确的，但官方的科学解释排除了污染与癌症之间的可能联系。拟议的论文研究调查了《Point Hope》中关于健康风险的科学主张。它通过关注科学家说了什么以及他们是如何说的来做到这一点的。具有讽刺意味的是，分析将通过将现实主义和反现实主义的解构策略并列来进行，以调查1)关于Point Hope污染的科学主张与科学探究的标准做法有多好，以及2)科学家在关于Point Hope污染的主张制作中使用的修辞策略。

In August of 1962 the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) authorized a secret radioactive tracer experiment near a small creek on the northwest coast of Alaska. The experiment contaminated the surrounding area with radioactive materials, a fact that the AEC kept from the people in the local communities. The nearby community of Point Hope experienced an alarming increase in the rate of cancer beginning approximately 20 years after the contamination. Public health agencies, in response to concerns from community members, conducted three epidemiological studies in the 1980's. Although the studies did not find the local cancer rates significant, Point Hopers doubted these conclusions. Local `tales` had long focused on the possible relationship between cancer in the village and buried poisons left by scientists. While the `discovery` of the contamination in 1992 seemed to vindicate the claims of Point Hopers, official scientific explanations dismissed the possible link between the contamination and cancer. The proposed dissertation study investigates the scientific claims made about health risks in Point Hope. It does this by focusing on what scientists said and how they said it. The analysis will proceed by ironically juxtaposing realist and anti-realist deconstructive strategies to investigate 1) how well the scientific claims made about the contamination in Point Hope meet with standard practices of scientific inquiry, and 2) the rhetorical strategies scientists used in claims-makings about the contamination in Point Hope.