The author argues that toxics are akin to the “subaltern.” Toxics resists “representation, narration and generalization,” and are rendered illegible through the logics of industrial culture. Toxics resist explanation through binary oppositions, they are constantly changing and unstable, there are differences in the ways people respond to toxics, and toxics are not always visible. Toxics are what industrial culture ignores. Toxics demand a shift in the way science is practiced and conceived, rather than being dependent on essentialist views in which objects have inherent and stable meanings.
