Better safe than sorry : how consumers navigate exposure to everyday toxics / Norah MacKendrick.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

MacKendrick, Norah, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Consumer behavior--United States.

Consumer behavior.

Consumer goods.

Industrial safety.

Product safety.

Women consumers.

Psychology.

United States.

Women consumers--United States--Psychology.

Product safety--United States.

Consumer goods--United States--Safety measures.

Consumer goods--Safety measures.

Women consumers--Psychology.

Physical Description:

xvi, 252 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2018]

Summary:

"How toxic are the products we consume on a daily basis? Whether it's triclosan in toothpaste, formaldehyde in baby shampoo, endocrine disruptors in water bottles, or pesticides on strawberries, consumers are increasingly concerned about the chemicals in their food and personal care products. This book chronicles how ordinary people try to avoid exposure to toxics in grocery store aisles using the practice of 'precautionary consumption.' Through an innovative analysis of environmental regulation, the advocacy work of environmental health groups, the expansion of the health-food chain Whole Foods Market, and interviews with consumers, Norah MacKendrick ponders why the problem of toxics in the U.S. retail landscape has been left to individual shoppers--and to mothers in particular. She reveals how precautionary consumption, or 'green shopping, ' is a costly and time-intensive practice, one that is connected to cultural ideas of femininity and good motherhood but is also most available to upper- and middle-class households. Better Safe Than Sorry powerfully argues that precautionary consumption places a heavy and unfair burden of labor on women and does little to advance environmental justice or mitigate risk."--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

Safe until sorry : chemical regulation in the United States

Personalizing pollution : the environmental health movement

Be a super shopper! precautionary consumption at the grocery store

The high stakes of shopping : precautionary consumption as mothers' work

Precautionary consumption as a class act

Moving toward environmental justice.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: MacKendrick, Norah. Better safe than sorry.

ISBN:

9780520296688

0520296680

9780520296695

0520296699

OCLC:

1005683192