“Ceci n’est pas une pipe”: A Comparison of French and U.S. Health Research on the Neurodevelopmental and Epigenetic Effects of Tobacco Exposure on Vulnerable Populations
Abstract
This thesis explores how cultural beliefs and practices influence biomedical research
landscapes in two high resource cultural contexts, the US and the Euro-American francophone
world. First, I examine how cultural mores have differently shaped the pace of research
engagement in the two economically advanced societies with advanced “Western” health
research infrastructure and shared scientific goals. Through examining historical
and global discourses of ADHD and perceptions of the disorder, I argue that the diagnosis
we call “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)” is not a novel phenomenon
of modern times, nor is its epidemic limited to the US. I then propose that different
conceptions of liberty, approaches to public health, and realities of social and political
systems all contribute to the divergence of social movements, regulations, and research.
Finally, I suggest a cross-cultural approach to the science of tobacco’s effect on
the developing brain as an essential conceptual change to advance the current understanding
of the disorder and reducing global health disparities.
Type
Honors thesisDepartment
Romance StudiesSubject
ADHDFrench Culture
Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure
Epigenetics
Global Health
Secondhand Smoke
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/11866Citation
Hwang, Laurie (2016). “Ceci n’est pas une pipe”: A Comparison of French and U.S. Health Research on the
Neurodevelopmental and Epigenetic Effects of Tobacco Exposure on Vulnerable Populations.
Honors thesis, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/11866.Collections
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