Perhaps it is no coincidence that Iris Borowy opens her contribution to this forum by reflecting on the potential harm caused by her mother’s infrequent use of thalidomide as a prenatal sleeping aid. Much writing about toxins, and the concerns that humans face in a chemically saturated world, focuses on reproduction. Other historians and social scientists have offered similar (though often less personal) reflections on the connection between reproduction and the rise of synthetic solutions to everyday problems. Scholars have discussed the double bind of “better living through chemistry” through the reproduction of toxic effects in histories of lead, mercury, and diethylstilbestrol (DES).¹¹ Indeed, it seems that often the reason people care so much about the negative effects of toxins brought on by industrialism is rooted in the damage that toxins and toxicants do to the ability to reproduce healthy relations.

中文翻译：

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复制毒性

或许 Iris Borowy 通过反思她母亲不经常使用沙利度胺作为产前助眠剂所造成的潜在危害来开始她对这个论坛的贡献并非巧合。许多关于毒素以及人类在化学饱和世界中面临的担忧的文章都集中在繁殖上。其他历史学家和社会科学家对繁殖与解决日常问题的综合解决方案的兴起之间的联系提出了类似的（尽管通常不那么个人化）的思考。学者们通过在铅、汞和己烯雌酚 (DES) 的历史中再现毒性作用，讨论了“通过化学改善生活”的双重约束。¹¹ 的确，人们如此关心工业主义带来的毒素的负面影响的原因似乎常常是因为毒素和毒物对重建健康关系的能力造成的损害。