Résumé :
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Multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) has emerged as an important and highly controversial issue in occupational health. Debate centers on whether the illness is "physical" or "psychological". A strong corporate-backed campaign has framed the debate and has pushed MCS advocates into a strategy of "proving the physical" nature of MCS. Proponents of both positions, however share key assumptions that impede long-term efforts to benefit MCS sufferers, including acceptance of the physical/psychological dichotomy as a paradigm for the illness, a desire to rid the debate of "politics" to allow "objective scientific" data to be amassed, and a view of MCS as unique without links to other occupational illnesses. While a grassroots movement has benefited MCS sufferers in a number of important ways, the shared assumprtions have impeded development of a more complex reality, reproduced mainstream expert/non-expert relationships, and failed to connect with the broader occupational health and safety movement. The author outlines an alternative theory and practice to begin addressing these issues, beginning with a recognition of MCS as a problem of developing knowledge within a context of class power.
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