John Abraham has been publishing about the carcinogenic risk assessment of pharmaceuticals since 1993. Carcinogenic risk assessment of pharmaceuticals is a hugely neglected area not just in social science and the humanities, but in medicine and pharmacy as well. This may be because it relies mostly on extrapolation to humans from animal models and in vitro tests. More than any other researcher in the world, John has investigated the politics and sociology of the development of techno-scientific and regulatory standards for carcinogenic risk assessment, and how they have been applied by the pharmaceutical industry and government drug regulatory agencies. He has also researched how those standards have changed over time, especially in relation to the geneticization of risk assessment. This theme is exemplified in the following publications:
John Abraham Controlling Pharmaceutical Risks: Science, Cancer and the Geneticization of Drug Testing, 295pp, Routledge, 2025.
John Abraham and Rachel Ballinger (2012) ‘The neo-liberal regulatory state, industry interests, and the ideological penetration of scientific knowledge: deconstructing the re-definition of carcinogens in pharmaceuticals’ Science, Technology & Human Values: Official Journal of the Society for Social Studies of Science 37(5); 443-77.
John Abraham and Rachel Ballinger (2012) ‘Science, politics and health in the brave new world of pharmaceutical carcinogenic risk assessment’ Social Science & Medicine,75: 1433-40.
John Abraham and Rachel Ballinger (2012) ‘The emergence of genetically-engineered animal models in carcinogenicity testing of pharmaceuticals: a case-study of process innovation New Genetics & Society, 31: 223-47.
John Abraham and Rachel Ballinger (2012) ‘Power, expertise, and the limits of representative democracy: genetics as scientific progress or political legitimation in pharmaceutical risk assessment’, Journal of Community Genetics 3(2): 91-103.
John Abraham, J. (2007) ‘Carcinogenesis of Pharmaceuticals: The Political Dimensions of Carcinogenic Risk Assessment of Medicines’ Toxicology Letters: The Proceedings of the 44th Congress of the European Societies of Toxicology 172S: S17-S18.
John Abraham and Tim Reed (2003) ‘Reshaping the Carcinogenic Risk Assessment of Medicines’ Social Science & Medicine 57: 195-204.
John Abraham and Tim Reed (2002) ‘Progress, innovation and regulatory science: the politics of international standard-setting’ Social Studies of Science 32: 337-69.
John Abraham (1998) ‘Regulating the Cancer-inducing Potential of Non-Steriodal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs: Some Lessons from the 1970s and 1980s’ Social Science and Medicine 46: 39-51.
John Abraham and Mike Charlton (1995) ‘Controlling Medicines in Europe: The Harmonisation of Regulatory Toxicology Assessed’ Science and Public Policy 22: 354-363.
John Abraham (1993) ‘Scientific Standards and Institutional Interests: Carcinogenic Risk Assessment of Benoxaprofen in the UK and the US’ Social Studies of Science 23: 387-444.