What's in the Blood? Temporalities at Play in Diet-Related Risk Management Testing Practices

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Environmental Health
• Sociology of Science

Background:

• Growing evidence links environmental factors to disease, challenging individualized views of chronic conditions.
• Risk management in food consumption in Québec and Canada often focuses on specific threats like diabetes or chemical contaminants.
• Discourses on chronic diseases frequently emphasize individual responsibility over broader environmental influences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To contrast risk management practices for diabetes and chemical contaminants in food consumption in Québec and Canada.
• To analyze how these practices frame and approach health risks, particularly in light of environmental disease pathways.
• To investigate the temporalities of health and illness within risk management and their implications for power relations and inequality.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of risk management testing practices for diabetes and chemical contaminants.
• Discourse analysis focusing on temporalities (created, considered, neglected) in risk assessment.
• Examination of how these practices shape care and influence health outcomes.

Main Results:

• Canadian biotechnological testing practices for diet-related risks tend to narrow the scope of health and illness temporalities considered.
• These practices contribute to the reproduction of health inequalities by overlooking environmental disease pathways.
• Differentiated biological materialities are produced through these risk management approaches.

Conclusions:

• Risk management in Canadian food consumption, particularly through biotechnological testing, reinforces health inequalities.
• The focus on specific risks like diabetes and contaminants neglects broader environmental influences on health.
• Rethinking temporalities within risk management is crucial for more equitable health outcomes.