The call for “a lab of our own” has emerged in the environmental movement in recent years. Take, for instance, the environmental breast cancer movement launched by the Silent Spring Institute and other environmental groups in the US in response to the fact that breast cancer research was either funded by the government or by the cosmetics industry, such as the well-known Pink Ribbon.
Most mainstream epidemiological research places too much emphasis on individual lifestyles, while ignoring the impact of environmental toxins.
The environmental breast cancer movement relies on funding from donations, rather than government or industry, and supports research on environmental toxicity as it builds its own laboratories.
The most well-known laboratory supported by small donations is located in an Italian castle — the Ramazzini Institute. Founded in 1970, the toxicology lab is the world’s second-largest animal lab, after the US National Toxicology Program.
Because it has a sufficient budget to support long-term research, the lab does not have to act as both a player and a referee in its research efforts, and can thus avoid conflicts of interest.
Both academia and governments attach great importance to its research, and it is also well-regarded by the public.
However, the controversy over environmental and occupational health hazards often requires — apart from evidence provided by toxicological research — evidence provided by epidemiological research results, as well as health risk assessments.
Establishing a toxicology laboratory that supports the environmental movement requires purchasing equipment, breeding guinea pigs and recruiting scientists, which requires money. However, setting up an environmental and occupational epidemiology lab or research office also involves another set of difficulties.
For epidemiological research and health-risk assessments, budget and space requirements are not too high. The real problems lie in the difficulty of obtaining research data.
Research on environmental and occupational health hazards are often closely related to significant business interests.
Whether it involves staff information, data on chemical substances used during the production process or waste emissions data, the data stored at government agencies are usually incomplete.
Most companies refuse to provide such information, claiming that it has been destroyed, that the law does not require them to provide such information or that the information constitutes a commercial secret.
If Taiwan’s environmental movement wants to build its own laboratory, it not only needs to raise funds and find a proper site, it also needs to seek support from the relevant government agencies. Only by creating laws requiring that data be stored and made public will Taiwan be able to remove opaqueness and uncertainty and embrace the arrival of spring.
Lin Yi-ping is an associate professor at National Yang-Ming University’s Institute of Science, Technology and Society.
Translated by Eddy Chang
Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) led a bipartisan delegation to Taiwan in late February. During their various meetings with Taiwan’s leaders, this delegation never missed an opportunity to emphasize the strength of their cross-party consensus on issues relating to Taiwan and China. Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi are leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Their instruction upon taking the reins of the committee was to preserve China issues as a last bastion of bipartisanship in an otherwise deeply divided Washington. They have largely upheld their pledge. But in doing so, they have performed the
It is well known that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) ambition is to rejuvenate the Chinese nation by unification of Taiwan, either peacefully or by force. The peaceful option has virtually gone out of the window with the last presidential elections in Taiwan. Taiwanese, especially the youth, are resolved not to be part of China. With time, this resolve has grown politically stronger. It leaves China with reunification by force as the default option. Everyone tells me how and when mighty China would invade and overpower tiny Taiwan. However, I have rarely been told that Taiwan could be defended to
It should have been Maestro’s night. It is hard to envision a film more Oscar-friendly than Bradley Cooper’s exploration of the life and loves of famed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. It was a prestige biopic, a longtime route to acting trophies and more (see Darkest Hour, Lincoln, and Milk). The film was a music biopic, a subgenre with an even richer history of award-winning films such as Ray, Walk the Line and Bohemian Rhapsody. What is more, it was the passion project of cowriter, producer, director and actor Bradley Cooper. That is the kind of multitasking -for-his-art overachievement that Oscar
Chinese villages are being built in the disputed zone between Bhutan and China. Last month, Chinese settlers, holding photographs of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), moved into their new homes on land that was not Xi’s to give. These residents are part of the Chinese government’s resettlement program, relocating Tibetan families into the territory China claims. China shares land borders with 15 countries and sea borders with eight, and is involved in many disputes. Land disputes include the ones with Bhutan (Doklam plateau), India (Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin) and Nepal (near Dolakha and Solukhumbu districts). Maritime disputes in the South China