ABSTRACT
This chapter provides background for environmental health laws. Laws to protect the public from exposures to toxic substances were, by and large, created on the model of other laws designed to protect the public from legal violations. The law needs scientific tools and findings in order to implement protections within legal requirements, and it matters when and how those tools are used. In contrast, under premarket laws that require a battery of tests for toxicity and then scientific review of that data at an administrative agency before the proposed product may be commercialized, science is utilized before the public is exposed. Creating doubt about the science utilized to identify toxicants and guide improved health standards is a typical company or industry strategy to protect commercial products. A company's strategy is to attack early drafts of health assessments shortly after their posting.
