Industry scientists blamed victims’ genetics instead of documented chemical hazards

Evidence

The occurrence of malignancies in factory workers was attributed to genetic aberrations. In commenting on an epidemiological study done for MCA that showed increased incidence of cancers among PVC workers, W. D. Harris, an industrial taxologist at Uniroyal, questioned the evidence because the cancer incidence did not seem to be dose-related. He opted for genetic predisposition: “There just is a suggestion that people who for some reason are susceptible to cancer will be affected and die within this period of time. If they don’t die within this period, they won’t” (Markowitz & Rosner, 2008). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1787

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The genetic-predisposition deflection is a precise template for blaming the victim’s intrinsic properties — the same structure deployed when racial or social groups are framed as naturally susceptible to their own misfortune.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1787