[en] Chemical pollution is largely invisible or - put differently – it has a distinct regime of visibility: most chemicals can only be detected indirectly, through signs, symptoms, indices, measurements. Furthermore, traditional methods of environmental monitoring take measurements from air, water and soil, but give no indication about the actual exposure of humans or other organisms to environmental toxins. What has been taken up by the organism? And what health risk does it pose?
Current European policy initiatives present biomonitoring as a way to objectify chemical pollution and human exposure to it. In that view, biomonitoring data may together constitute an evidence-base for policymaking. The TRACE project wants to problematize this linear vision by attending to 1) how biomonitoring measurements are made in different species (not only humans) and; 2) what they come to mean.
The hypothesis of the TRACE project is that biomonitoring deserves our full attention because it is more than a way to simply register and quantify the presence of contaminants in bodies and environments. The project’s acronym is based on the double meaning of a ‘trace’ as a passive indication on the one hand, and the verb ‘to trace’ as an active and imaginative act drawing the contours of something. Beyond registering ‘traces’, measuring exposure directs attention to the ways that chemicals trace the contours of unexpected relations between species; between ‘bodies’ and ‘environments’ and between forms of time. Taking exposure seriously, I contend, ultimately implies questioning our conceptual habits, scientific disciplines, and political institutions. It requires attention and inventiveness to apprehend new ecological relations and a different kind of responsibility.
Disciplines :
Anthropology
Author, co-author :
Hendrickx, Kim ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de science politique
Language :
English
Title :
Exposure & Traces: toward a relational approach of chemical environments
Publication date :
June 2022
Event name :
Re-thinking the Epigenome
Event organizer :
TUM
Event place :
Munich, Germany
Event date :
13-15 juin 2022
By request :
Yes
Peer reviewed :
Peer reviewed
References of the abstract :
Chemical pollution is largely invisible or - put differently – it has a distinct regime of visibility: most chemicals can only be detected indirectly, through signs, symptoms, indices, measurements. Furthermore, traditional methods of environmental monitoring take measurements from air, water and soil, but give no indication about the actual exposure of humans or other organisms to environmental toxins. What has been taken up by the organism? And what health risk does it pose?
Current European policy initiatives present biomonitoring as a way to objectify chemical pollution and human exposure to it. In that view, biomonitoring data may together constitute an evidence-base for policymaking. The TRACE project wants to problematize this linear vision by attending to 1) how biomonitoring measurements are made in different species (not only humans) and; 2) what they come to mean.
The hypothesis of the TRACE project is that biomonitoring deserves our full attention because it is more than a way to simply register and quantify the presence of contaminants in bodies and environments. The project’s acronym is based on the double meaning of a ‘trace’ as a passive indication on the one hand, and the verb ‘to trace’ as an active and imaginative act drawing the contours of something. Beyond registering ‘traces’, measuring exposure directs attention to the ways that chemicals trace the contours of unexpected relations between species; between ‘bodies’ and ‘environments’ and between forms of time. Taking exposure seriously, I contend, ultimately implies questioning our conceptual habits, scientific disciplines, and political institutions. It requires attention and inventiveness to apprehend new ecological relations and a different kind of responsibility.
