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38Structured Development and Promotion of a Research Field: Hormesis in Biology, Toxicology, and Environmental Regulatory ScienceKennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 25 (4): 335-367. 2015.The ability of powerful and well-funded interest groups to steer scientific research in directions that advance their goals has become a significant social concern. This ability is increasingly being recognized in the peer-reviewed literature and in the findings of deliberative expert consensus committees. For example, there is increasing recognition that efforts to address climate change have been stymied in part by a powerful network of conservative foundations, which fund think tanks and othe…Read more
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32Bisphenol A and Risk Management EthicsBioethics 29 (3): 182-189. 2014.It is widely recognized that endocrine disrupting compounds, such as Bisphenol A, pose challenges for traditional paradigms in toxicology, insofar as these substances appear to have a wider range of low-dose effects than previously recognized. These compounds also pose challenges for ethics and policymaking. When a chemical does not have significant low-dose effects, regulators can allow it to be introduced into commerce or the environment, provided that procedures and rules are in place to keep…Read more
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30Addressing Industry-Funded Research with Criteria for ObjectivityPhilosophy of Science 85 (5): 857-868. 2018.In recent years, industry-funded research has come under fire because of concerns that it can be biased in favor of the funders. This article suggests that efforts by philosophers of science to analyze the concept of objectivity can provide important lessons for those seeking to evaluate and improve industry-funded research. It identifies three particularly relevant criteria for objectivity: transparency, reproducibility, and effective criticism. On closer examination, the criteria of transparen…Read more
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29Developmental Systems Theory and Human EmbryosThe National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 5 (2): 249-259. 2005.
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27Selective Ignorance and Agricultural ResearchScience, Technology, and Human Values 38 (3): 328-350. 2012.Scholars working in science and technology studies have recently argued that we could learn much about the nature of scientific knowledge by paying closer attention to scientific ignorance. Building on the work of Robert Proctor, this article shows how ignorance can stem from a wide range of selective research choices that incline researchers toward partial, limited understandings of complex phenomena. A recent report produced by the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science, a…Read more
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24The ethics of infection control: philosophical frameworksInfection Control and Hospital Epidemiology 28 (9): 1077-1084. 2007.
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22Review of What Is Nanotechnology and Why Does It Matter: From Science to Ethics (review)Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology 5 (1). 2011.
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22Roles for Socially Engaged Philosophy of Science in Environmental PolicyIn David Boonin, Katrina L. Sifferd, Tyler K. Fagan, Valerie Gray Hardcastle, Michael Huemer, Daniel Wodak, Derk Pereboom, Stephen J. Morse, Sarah Tyson, Mark Zelcer, Garrett VanPelt, Devin Casey, Philip E. Devine, David K. Chan, Maarten Boudry, Christopher Freiman, Hrishikesh Joshi, Shelley Wilcox, Jason Brennan, Eric Wiland, Ryan Muldoon, Mark Alfano, Philip Robichaud, Kevin Timpe, David Livingstone Smith, Francis J. Beckwith, Dan Hooley, Russell Blackford, John Corvino, Corey McCall, Dan Demetriou, Ajume Wingo, Michael Shermer, Ole Martin Moen, Aksel Braanen Sterri, Teresa Blankmeyer Burke, Jeppe von Platz, John Thrasher, Mary Hawkesworth, William MacAskill, Daniel Halliday, Janine O’Flynn, Yoaav Isaacs, Jason Iuliano, Claire Pickard, Arvin M. Gouw, Tina Rulli, Justin Caouette, Allen Habib, Brian D. Earp, Andrew Vierra, Subrena E. Smith, Danielle M. Wenner, Lisa Diependaele, Sigrid Sterckx, G. Owen Schaefer, Markus K. Labude, Harisan Unais Nasir, Udo Schuklenk, Benjamin Zolf & Woolwine (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Public Policy, Springer Verlag. pp. 767-778In recent years, philosophers of science have taken renewed interest in pursuing scholarship that is “socially engaged.” As a result, this scholarship has become increasingly relevant to public policy. In order to illustrate the ways in which the philosophy of science can inform public policy, this chapter focuses specifically on environmental research and policy. It shows how philosophy can assist with environmental policy making in three ways: clarifying the roles of values in policy-relevant …Read more
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20Teaching and learning guide for: The promise and perils of industry‐funded researchPhilosophy Compass 13 (11). 2018.Private companies provide by far the most funding for scientific research and development. Nevertheless, relatively little attention has been paid to the dynamics of industry‐funded research by philosophers of science. This paper addresses this gap by providing an overview of the major strengths and weaknesses of industry research funding, together with the existing recommendations for addressing the weaknesses. It is designed to provide a starting point for future philosophical work that explor…Read more
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19Using Drones to Study Human Beings: Ethical and Regulatory IssuesScience and Engineering Ethics 25 (3): 707-718. 2019.Researchers have used drones to track wildlife populations, monitor forest fires, map glaciers, and measure air pollution but have only begun to consider how to use these unmanned aerial vehicles to study human beings. The potential use of drones to study public gatherings or other human activities raises novel issues of privacy, confidentiality, and consent, which this article explores in depth. It argues that drone research could fall into several different categories: non-human subjects resea…Read more
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19Environmental Health EthicsEthics, Policy and Environment 17 (2): 238-239. 2014.While the fields of biomedical ethics and environmental ethics have received a great deal of philosophical attention in recent years, the intersection of these fields—environmental health ethics—ha...
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15Review: Daniel Steel. Philosophy and the Precautionary Principle: Science, Evidence, and Environmental Policy (review)Philosophy of Science 82 (3): 524-527. 2015.
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14Legally Poisoned: How the Law Puts Us at Risk from ToxicantsEthics, Policy and Environment 16 (2). 2013.Carl Cranor, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 2011, 328 pp, cloth $35.00, paper $19.95, ISBN 0-674-04970-5 Carl Cranor's new book, Legally poisoned, provides an important argument for a new...
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9Heather E. Douglas. Science, Policy, and the Value-Free Ideal. xiv + 210 pp., bibl., index. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009. $27.95 (review)Isis 102 (1): 204-205. 2011.
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3Daniel Steel, Philosophy and the Precautionary Principle: Science, Evidence, and Environmental Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 266 pp., $95.00 (review)Philosophy of Science 82 (3): 524-527. 2015.
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2Taking Financial Relationships into Account When Assessing ResearchAccountability in Research: Policies and Quality Assurance 20 (3): 184-205. 2013.
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Addressing conflicts of interest in nanotechnology oversightJournal of Nanoparticle Research 14 664-8. 2012.
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Mitigating Conflicts of Interest in Chemical Safety TestingEnvironmental Science and Technology 46 (15): 7937-8. 2012.