247
After DDT was banned in many
countries, Osprey populations—which
had declined significantly from the
1940s—began to recover. Ospreys had
eaten small animals affected by DDT.longstanding position as editor-in-
chief at the FWS until 1952 meant
that she had access to a great many
of these reports; she found them to
be very disturbing reading.
Since the research was rather
scattered and by no means
accessible for the general reader,
Carson resolved to gather what
material she could find and present
it in a way that the ordinary non-
scientist could understand. As she
made progress with the writing
of Silent Spring, it became clear
to her that she had a moral duty to
make the information public. As
well as documenting the hazards
of indiscriminate pesticide use,
Carson dared to suggest that the
chemical companies were putting
profits before people and that
the government might even be
colluding with them, knowingly
or otherwise, by failing to regulate
the industry effectively.
The response from the US
chemical industry was predictable.
At first, they tried to sue Carson,
her publishers, and The NewYorker—which had published a
serialization of the book. However,
Carson was prepared for this kind
of response. She knew the book
would be controversial and seen
as threatening by the chemical
industry. Therefore, as well as
meticulously tracking and recording
her research—which had been
gained from government bodies, her
contacts in research institutions,
and other reputable sources—she
also had the manuscript reviewed
by scientists and experts.
When suing Carson did not
work, the chemical companies
launched a campaign to bring her
into disrepute, stooping to personal
attacks such as depicting Carson
as a “hysterical” cat-loving woman,
who was ill-equipped to write
such a book. The smear campaign
backfired, merely increasing the
sales of Silent Spring.New policies
Notable scientists supported
Carson’s findings and US President
John F. Kennedy invited her to
testify before a Congressional
Committee in 1963. She called for
new policies that would serve toTHE HUMAN FACTOR
protect the environment. The
Committee released a report
entitled “The Uses of Pesticides,”
which broadly supported Carson’s
book. Inspired by Carson, activists
continued to lobby government until
in 1972, a decade after Silent Spring
was first published, DDT was
banned in the US. Other countries
followed, although some retain it to
control mosquitoes.
The legacy of Silent Spring is
greater than the banning of DDT.
It demonstrated to industry giants
and government the power of an
educated public. ■Man is part of nature
and his war against
nature is inevitably a
war against himself.
Rachel CarsonThey should
not be called
insecticides
but biocides.
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