[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/EW-09-27-12-Silent-Spring.mp3|titles=EW 09-27-12 Silent Spring]
Fifty years ago Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, her landmark book exploring how pesticides compromise the health of humans and wildlife. It challenged us to envision a spring without birds and is credited for igniting the modern environmental movement.
Carson died in 1964. She never witnessed the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the passage of the Endangered Species Act, or the resurgence of bald eagles. She missed a lot of good things, including the ability to defend herself.
For decades, certain camps have saddled Carson with millions of malaria deaths. Her reputation has been kicked by a conservative think-tank, a southern senator, and a science fiction writer. It goes something like this … Carson sounded the alarm on DDT, the U.S. enacted a ban, other nations followed suit, and the war on malaria lost its most effective weapon.
It’s important to remember that Silent Spring was a reaction against excessive agricultural pesticide use. In 1959, a few years before the book was published, 79 million pounds of DDT was applied to U.S. crops. A cheap and effective bug killer, the manmade chemical was found in reproductively compromised bald eagles and human breast milk.
Carson was not opposed to insecticides; she just called for their independent environmental review. When the EPA banned DDT in 1972, its ruling was based on numerous scientific studies and increased insect resistance. Similar resistance was seen globally, in areas where DDT spraying was widespread for malaria.
DDT has never been banned for malarial uses. It is used to fight the disease in more than 10 countries, mainly in Africa. Today, along with bed nets, many malaria control programs use DDT in the type of targeted applications that Carson advocated for.
Web Links
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3186
http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/rehabilitatingcarson/
Photo, taken on September 23, 2006, courtesy of Robert Pos via Flickr.