This dissertation investigates efforts in the United States to regulate endocrine-disrupting chemicals. 1n 1996, Congress mandated the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to establish a screening program for chemicals that appeared to interfere with the actions of estrogens, androgens and thyroid hormones; no chemicals have yet proceeded through the full complement of assays, and many details of the program remain unresolved. Moreover, much is still unknown about endocrine-disrupting chemicals, complicating the tasks of assessing and regulating them; for example, there is significant scientific support for the notion that they can exert effects at very low-doses, but industry disputes such findings. Without an effective Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP), human and wildlife population continue to be exposed to possible endocrine-disruptors, with long-term consequences that remain unclear.

This dissertation examines how industry stakeholders, non-governmental organizations and others have framed the scientific issues and sought to influence regulators, consumers and other audiences, through public comment, ex parte meetings and media coverage. It examines: 1) public comments from stakeholders in response to the first draft list of chemicals for the EDSP; 2) private meetings between industry representatives and the EPA about key aspects of the EDSP; and 3) news coverage of phthalates, and in particular advocacy efforts to raise awareness about their presence in brand-name consumer goods.

The results of this investigation suggest that while industry stakeholders might not appear to have significant impact on the content of rules, the regulatory process has nonetheless provided them with multiple opportunities to delay the process of EDSP development. The results also suggest that environmental and public health advocates can find different strategies for effecting policy change, with the news media playing a key role. In particular, offering new forms of evidence and altering public perceptions about the potential hazards of everyday consumer products can exert pressure on corporations to change behaviors and reformulate products, and on politicians to take legislative action against particularly worrisome chemicals. The trade-off is that the benefits might be far narrower in scope--as in this particular case, limited to phthalates in toys and personal care products--than the protections envisioned as part of an overarching structure like the EDSP.

Forced labor is a serious and pervasive problem in the United States. At any given time ten thousand or more people work as forced laborers in scores of cities and towns across the country. And it is likely that the actual number is much higher, possibly reaching into the tens of thousands. Because forced labor is hidden, inhumane, widespread, and criminal, sustained and coordinated efforts by U.S. law enforcement, social service providers, and the general public are needed to expose and eradicate this illicit trade.

This report documents the nature and scope of forced labor in the United States from January 1998 to December 2003. It is the first study to examine the numbers, demographic characteristics, and origins of victims and perpetrators of forced labor in the United States and the adequacy of the U.S. response to this growing problem since the enactment of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (Trafficking Act) of 2000. Conducted by researchers from Free the Slaves and the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, the study is based on data obtained from a telephone survey of 49 service providers that have worked with or are expert in forced labor cases, a press survey of 131 incidents of forced labor, and eight cases studies of forced labor in different regions of the United States.

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