From Critical Science to Solutions

"This book is a must-read for anybody interested in how science can be used to improve our lives—or to undermine health protection. Dr. Richard Clapp, editor of the “Scientific Solutions” section of New Solutions for 17 years, has chosen wisely from the many articles published during this period. From Critical Science to Solutions provides important insights and will captivate a wide range of readers—from students to experienced public health scientists." —Les Boden, Professor of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health "Work environments. Dr. Richard Clapp has assembled an outstanding collection of thought-provoking papers that examine topics such as the consequences of industry-funded science, the limitations of epidemiology and toxicology for progressive workers' health protections, and the false choice between economic growth and robust public health policies. From Critical Science to Solutions is guaranteed to generate dynamic classroom discussions about age-old occupational health and safety problems still begging for solutions." —Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH, Professorial Lecturer, Department of Environmental & Occupational Health, School of Public Health & Health Services, George Washington University "This thought-provoking collection serves as a call for a science that is unabashedly supportive of intervening to protect the health of working people from occupational and environmental hazards in the face of scientific uncertainty. The contributions in this volume, first published in New Solutions between 1994 and 2010, illustrate how scientific research can be a foundation for action to change public policy. They call attention to the need to develop a science that embraces the precautionary principle to protect workers and the public from the toxic assaults to which they are subjected, and the need for a movement that places the health of working people as its organizing principle." —Joel Shufro, Executive Director New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health

Professor Richard Clapp is an epidemiologist with more than thirty years of experience in public health practice, teaching, and consulting. He has an M.P.H. from Harvard School of Public Health and a D.Sc. in epidemiology from Boston University School of Public Health. He is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Environmental Health at BUSPH and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Health and Environment at the University of Massachusetts–Lowell. Prof. Clapp served as Director of the Massachusetts Cancer Registry from 1980 to 1989, and worked in two environmental health consulting groups in the past two decades. His research has included studies of cancer in workers around nuclear facilities, in military veterans, and in communities with toxic hazards. He has been on the editorial board of New Solutions since 1994, and has edited and contributed to the Scientific Solutions section of the journal since that time. He also served as an Associate Editor of Environmental Health Perspectives from 2005 to 2010 and has been on numerous scientific advisory boards.