Recent work in science and technology studies has looked at how chemical industries manufacture doubt about the toxicity of their products and manage to establish their scientific views in the field of international regulations on toxic substances. Rather than examining yet another “victory” for the industry, this article analyzes the deployment of a “pro-industrial” scientific position, punctuated mainly by failure and opposition. This trajectory is tracked through the analysis of several data sets: archives, scientific documentation, and sociological interviews. The first part of the article charts the development of a biochemical concept, “peroxisome proliferation,” within an academic subfield and its subsequent appropriation by certain industrial parties who used it as a defensive weapon for their commercial interests. Through the example of the International Agency for Research on Cancer and its network of interdependent institutions, the article goes on to analyze the multiple attempts of chemical industry players to establish their interpretation of the concept within the regulatory bodies for carcinogenic substances. The study of such systems of sociological interdependence shows that a full analysis of the “doubt manufacturing” requires an examination not only of the manufacturing process but also of the reception of the ideas produced.

最近在科学和技术研究方面的工作着眼于化学工业如何对其产品的毒性产生怀疑，并设法在有关有毒物质的国际法规领域建立科学观点。本文并没有考察行业的又一次“胜利”，而是分析了“亲工业”科学立场的部署，主要是失败和反对。这一轨迹是通过对几个数据集的分析来追踪的：档案、科学文献和社会学访谈。文章的第一部分描绘了一个学术子领域内生化概念“过氧化物酶体增殖”的发展以及随后某些工业团体将其用作其商业利益的防御武器。通过国际癌症研究机构及其相互依存的机构网络的例子，本文继续分析化学工业参与者的多次尝试，以在致癌物质监管机构内建立他们对该概念的解释。对这种社会学相互依存系统的研究表明，对“怀疑制造”的全面分析不仅需要检查制造过程，还需要检查所产生的想法的接受程度。