The Drug Company Next Door: Pollution, Jobs, and Community Health in Puerto Rico

Winner, 2015 Julian Steward Award from the American Anthropological AssociationThe production of pharmaceuticals is among themost profitable industries on the planet. Drug companies produce chemicalsubstances that can save, extend, or substantially improve the quality of humanlife. However, even as the companiespresent themselves publicly as health and environmental stewards, theirfactories are a significant source of air and water pollution—toxic to peopleand the environment. In Puerto Rico, the pharmaceutical industry is thebackbone of the island’s economy: in one small town alone, there are over adozen drug factories representing five multinationals, the highestconcentration per capita of such factories in the world. It is a place wherethe enforcement of environmental regulations and the public trust they ensureare often violated in the name of economic development.The Drug Company Next Door unites the concerns of critical medical anthropology with those of political ecology, investigating the multi-faceted role of pharmaceutical corporations as polluters, economic providers, and social actors. Rather than simply demonizing the drug companies, the volume explores the dynamics involved in their interactions with the local community and discusses the strategies used by both individuals and community groups to deal with the consequences of pollution.The Drug Company Next Door puts a human face on a growing set of problems for communities around the world. Accessible and engaging, the book encourages readers to think critically about the role of corporations in everyday life, health, and culture.