ABSTRACT
Based on an analysis of the scientific literature, the press, and sociological interviews with activists, this chapter describes how the issue of industry influence on pesticide regulation and its framing in terms of “conflict of interest” (COI) have become central in the protest repertoire of environmental movements in the United States and, later, in France. It argues that three major changes in the institutional and social context of activism contributed to its success: the institutionalization of risk assessment, the development of investigative environmental journalism, and the professionalization of environmental health advocacy organizations. More broadly, the chapter questions the political effects of this framing in terms of COI. It suggests that it has enabled activist organizations to give public visibility to the issue of industry influence on pesticide regulation, but that it also tends to promote a rather narrow critique of pesticides as a technology.
