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UCSD Science Studies Program Lecture Series in Science and Society presents:

Presentation title: “History and Science on Trial”

Speaker: Gerald Markowitz, Professor of History at John Jay College and
Professor in the Graduate School and University Center at City University of New York

Date: Thursday, October 2, 2008, 3:00pm – 4:30pm
Reception to follow. Free and open to the public.

Location: UCSD Natural Sciences Building #1205 (Revelle College campus)

Abstract
In Fall, 2002, Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution, was published jointly by the University of California Press and the Milbank Fund as one in a series that addressed a variety of aspects of health policy. Briefly, the book looked at questions regarding how two industries, the lead industry and the chemical industry, reacted when faced with information regarding the potential dangers of their products to human health during the twentieth century.

The history of the lead and vinyl industries offers clear insight into why the relationship between the public and big business is so strained today. Despite the potent evidence of the dangers of their products, these industries hid information, controlled research, continued to market their products as safe, and attempted to influence the political process in order to avoid regulation. {click to view entire abstract}

About the speaker:
Dr. Markowitz, a public health historian who has written extensively about occupational and environmental health, is a professor of history at John Jay College and professor in the Graduate School and University Center at City University of New York. He is author of ten books, including Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution; Deadly Dust: Silicosis and the Politics of Industrial Disease in Twentieth Century America; Dying for Work: Workers’ Safety and Health in Twentieth Century America; Slaves of Depression: Workers Letters About Life on the Job – all co-authored with David Rosner.