6 Unexpected Consequences
their sale and intended use—but not their long-term effects. In just
five years, ten thousand new pesticides were registered. Over the next
forty years, fifty thousand different pesticides came into use across
America’s farms.
The most infamous was dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane—DDT.
Originally used to kill mosquitoes carrying malaria and lice-spreading
typhus, the pesticide won its inventor a Nobel Prize. Newsreels in the
4 s showed children in swimsuits playing under a shower of DDT
while mosquito-control trucks sprayed neighborhoods.^ Believed to
be safe, DDT soon found other uses like eliminating pests plaguing
farms.
Yet DDT was never benign. Though highly effective, it failed to kill
all mosquitoes (or other insects). Just as antibiotics bred resistant bacte-
ria, populations of DDT-resistant mosquitoes flourished as susceptible
ones were killed. Meanwhile, research by the United States Fisher-
ies and Wildlife reported that DDT was killing fish, mammals, bene-
ficial insects, and, indirectly, agricultural crops. The National Insti-
tutes of Health branded DDT a carcinogen and FDA said it posed
serious health risks. Farmers were warned in 4 not to use DDT on
food plants, but many continued to do so, letting profits override public
health concerns.
Not until scientist and author Rachel Carson published Silent Spring
in 62 did public sentiment turn against DDT. Carson described how
spraying DDT to kill Dutch elm disease was decimating bird popu-
lations, leading to an eventual “silent spring” devoid of birdsong. The
book became a best seller.
When DDT was banned, other pesticides filled the void. Though each
carried varying levels of toxicity, all were touted as safe with few environ-
mental downsides. But the messaging did not stop there. Chemical manu-
facturers crafted narratives that stressed higher yields and greater
profits for farmers, and more-affordable and more-wholesome food
for consumers. Without pesticides, food production would plummet,
prices would soar, exports would drop, global markets would go else-
where, tens of thousands of jobs would disappear, and the poor would
suffer. Nothing less than economic prosperity, feeding families, grow-
ing the economy, protecting America, and creating a better future was
at stake.