Precarious Matters / Prekäre Stoffe Max Planck Institute for the History
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MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science 2008 PREPRINT 356 Viola Balz, Alexander v. Schwerin, Heiko Stoff, Bettina Wahrig (eds.) Precarious Matters / Prekäre Stoffe The History of Dangerous and Endangered Substances in the 19th and 20th Centuries /// ... From the mid-19th century onwards Kontakt: the life sciences have been establishing workshop the molecular structures of various groups Katsiaryna Barrenscheen precarious matters of substances, ascribing to them the [email protected] Antje Radeck power of regulating or manipulating vital [email protected] / processes within the organism. The status of these substances is precarious with prekaere stoffe respect to the way in which they are stabilised, activated, and employed. Info: http://www.pharmtech.tu-bs.de/pharmgesch the history of dangerous and In spite of their great variety in terms http://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/en/institute/ endangered substances in the of chemical constitution, function and events.html mode of application, they constitute a 19th and 20th centuries common field of physiologically highly / active but also autonomous/dangerous Anfahrt: die geschichte gefaehrdeter substances with shared epistemological, und gefaehrdender substanzen regulatory and political problems and, by consequence, similar practices. ... /// im 19. und 20. jahrhundert What are the main characteristics of precarious substances and how do they affect – and are affected by – biopolitical conjunctures, the social conditions of their production, commercialization, regulation 22 / 03 - 24 / 03 / 07 and social roles ? Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Boltzmannstr. 22 Organisation: 14195 Berlin Viola Balz Abteilung für Alexander v. Schwerin Pharmazie- und Heiko Stoff Wissenschafts- Bettina Wahrig geschichte Braunschweig Hans-Jörg Rheinberger Max-Planck-Institut Wissenschafts- geschichte Berlin gefördert von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft Jean-Paul Gaudillière INSERM, Paris Donnerstag, 22.03.2007 10.00–11.00: Otniel Dror, Jerusalem 18.00–18.30: Hans-Jörg Rheinberger Leitung/ Chair: Viola Balz Adrenaline Excitements Kommentar 14.30–15.30: 11.00–11.30 Willkommen und Einleitung (Viola Balz, Pause Heiko Stoff, Alexander v. Schwerin, Bettina Wahrig, Braunschweig) 11.30–12.30: Christina Ratmoko, Zürich Zur Zirkulation von industriell hergestellten Samstag, 24.03.2007 15.30–16.30: Volker Hess, Berlin Geschlechtshormonen: Über Stabilisierung Leitung/ Chair: Bettina Wahrig Precarious matters? und Destabilisierung von Ciba-Hormon- Magnetische Heilkraft im präparaten (1914-1927) 9.00–10.00: Ulrike Thoms, Berlin klinischen Versuch Antibiotika in Lebensmitteln. Prekäre 12.30–13.00: Ulrike Klöppel, Berlin Stoffe in der Diskussion Kommentar 16.30–17.00 Pause 10.00–11.00: Barbara Orland, Zürich 13.00–14.30 Nutrients: About the invention of good 17.00–18.00: Axel Helmstädter, Marburg Pause things that can harm your body “Is there a tonic in the toxin?” The Arndt- 14.30–15.30: Maria Rentetzi, Athens Schulz law as an explanation for non-linear 11:00–11:30 Radium as a trafficking material: dose-response relationships Pause a precarious substance of early 20th century science, medicine and commerce 18.00–19.00: Carsten Reinhardt, Bielefeld 11:30–12:30: Axel Hüntelmann, Berlin Boundary Values Der Friedrich Franz Friedmann’sche 15.30–16.30: Soraya Boudia, Strasbourg Tuberkuloseimpfstoff. Von Schildkröten, Invisible particles, global effects: The Bakterienkulturen und anderen 19.00–19.30: Nicholas Eschenbruch, international regulation system of prekäre Stoffen Freiburg: Kommentar radioactive substances 12.30–13.30: Nicolas Langlitz, Berkeley 16.30–17.00 Pharmacovigilance as Post-Black Pause Market Surveillance 13.30–14.00 Freitag, 23.03.2007 17.00–18.00: Norman Pohl, Freiberg Prekär, fatal, inert, verführerisch: Pause Leitung/ Chair: Heiko Stoff, Alexander v. Schwerin Zu Nutzen und Hintergrund einer neu gewichteten Definition von Stoffgruppen 14.00–14.30: Jean-Paul Gaudillière, Paris 9.00–10.00: Beat Bächi, Zürich und ihren Eigenschaften (Cyanides and Kommentar Ascorbic acid’s precarious status or how Vanillin) synthetic vitamin C became the body politic’s 14:30–15:00 „means of function“ (1933-1953) Abschließende Diskussion TABLE OF CONTENTS Precarious Matters. An Introduction Bettina Wahrig, Heiko Stoff, Alexander von Schwerin, Viola Balz 5 Precarious matters? Magnetische Heilkraft im klinischen Versuch Volker Hess 15 “Is there a tonic in the toxin ?” The Arndt-Schulz law as an explanation for non-linear dose-response relationships Axel Helmstädter 29 Boundary Values Carsten Reinhardt 39 Precarious Efficacy: Homeopathic Remedies, Drug Efficacy and the Politics of Regulation in 1970s Germany Nicholas Eschenbruch 51 Precarious Matters: Ascorbic Acid and Body Politics (1933-1953) Beat Bächi 61 On Circulation of Industrially Manufactured Sex Hormones: Stabilization and Destabilization of Ciba Hormone Preparations (1914-1927) Christina Ratmoko 71 Chinin als Malariatherapeutikum – prekär und unverzichtbar? Marion A. Hulverscheidt 83 Trafficking Materials in Tin Boxes, Glass Bottles, and Lead Cases: Radium in Early Twentieth Century Science, Medicine, and Commerce Maria Rentetzi 99 Prekär, fatal, verführerisch, inert, edel? Zu Nutzen und Hintergrund einer Neubetrachtung von Stoffeigenschaften Norman Pohl 113 Antibiotics in foods. Precarious matters under discussion Ulrike Thoms 129 Nutrients: About the Invention of Good Things that can Harm your Body Barbara Orland 141 3 Das Friedrich Franz Friedmannsche Tuberkulosemittel Schildkröten, Tuberkelbazillen, Heil- und Schutzstoffe und andere prekäre Stoffe Axel C. Hüntelmann 153 Pharmacovigilance and Post-Black Market Surveillance Nicolas Langlitz 169 Precarious Substances: A Brief Commentary Hans-Jörg Rheinberger 181 4 Precarious Matters. An Introduction Bettina Wahrig, Heiko Stoff, Alexander v. Schwerin, Viola Balz The present collection of papers is the outcome of the workshop “Precarious Matters. The History of Dangerous and Endangered Substances in the 19th and 20th Centuries.“ By applying the adjective “precarious” to matters or substances, the editors intended to create a platform for open and critical discussions about a variety of substances. The discussion started around our own projects – all located in Braunschweig. The projects belonged to the history of biological research in radioactivity, to the history of active substances, the history of the construction of drug effects in psychopharmacology and to the history of poisons respectively.1 Although together they covered a large time span and a large range of substances, we soon noticed how astonishingly similar these substances were. By organizing the workshop at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, we have have tried – successfully, we think – to trigger a discussion about the fruitfulness of the concept in yet other fields of research. „Precarious substances“ have common features, they cannot, however, be defined by a set of chemical, physical or biological characteristics, or by being assigned a place in a classification like, for example, the one generated by the discourse of natural history or by the system of elements in mid-19th century. „Precarious substances“ have no specific place in any given order of things. They are essentially characterized by their dynamics, by the way in which they are produced, by the way in which their effects and efficacy are perceived and framed and by the way in which they are socialised. Hence the term „precarious substances“ is an epistemic concept which we use to delineate a socio-epistemo-natural constellation. In the title of the workshop we also use the term "precarious matters". By doing so, we allude to a word-game created by Judith Butler (“bodies that matter”).2 In her book, Butler makes the point that the material characteristics of human bodies are not pre-discursive settings, rather, they emerge within a discourse. Like “bodies that matter”, precarious matters emerge, are settled and act within historical/social/scientific constellations that assign criteria of precariousness to certain substances while simultaneously and continuously expanding the grid within which these substances can be identified, regulated and activated. 1 The first two projects (Alexander v. Schwerin and Heiko Stoff) are centred on the history of bioscientific research within the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft from 1920 to 1970, the third one (Viola Balz) focuses on the time period between 1950 and 1980, while Bettina Wahrig is performing research on the history of poisons until the first decades of the 20th century. 2 Butler, Bodies 1993. Bettina Wahrig, Heiko Stoff, Alexander v. Schwerin, Viola Balz Figure 1 Figure 2 But if no substance is in itself precarious, why then talk of precarious substances at all? If a substance cannot be classified because of its accidents as precarious, what is specific in these substances? We would like to illustrate the perspective of precarious substances by focussing on a specific object, representing a specific substance. Figure 1 shows an object taken from the Historical Collection of Drugs (Arzneimittelhistorische Sammlung) founded by Wolfgang Schneider. The collection comprises about 900 objects, mainly from the realm of mineral drugs. A small choice of these is on exhibit in the Braunschweig department for the History of Pharmacy. The object is placed in a small paper tube, which bears a label. The numbers and letters on the label once