Aluminium in health and food: a gradual global approach

Auteur(s) : Hachez-Leroy, Florence

Description
- Résumé / Abstract
  The history of occupational diseases and environment gives little consideration to pathologies related to the use of artefacts. Furthermore, materials are seldom the centre of studies. In this article, aluminium is used as an example for understanding the processes of user acceptance and rejection. The issue of user confidence over long periods of time is raised from the actors' perspective and with respect to the relationships between companies, scientists, public actors, citizens and users. Since the time thataluminium was first produced, it was subjected to physicochemical tests. Scientists concluded that it was harmless. With mass production, starting in 1886, the debate was reopened, in particular because of its use for military purposes. Simultaneously, the arrival of new smelters caused local public reaction against pollution and occupational diseases. From the 1960s, the development of mass pollution generated a geographical widening of the debates. Companies had to confront national associations of ecologists and public organisations. From the 1970s, broad suspicion hit aluminium with the dialysed of Denver, and, about 10 years later, with Alzheimer's disease. In the 1990s, the ‘Aluminium and Health’ issue within the general metal-production and consumption domain became a global and international issue.