Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

of mining for gold and silver ores, and for several hundred years for a rs enic ores. Over the
centuries ars enic was tes accumulated in the vicinity of the mine s hafts and were picked up by
s treams coming down from the mountains. The underground wate r als o became contaminated,
and ars enic entered the drinki ng water. For centuries many of the inhabitants of this region
s uffered from what came to be known as ‘the Reichens tein dis eas e’—chronic arsenicism with
accompanying dis orde rs of the liver, s kin, and gas trointes tinal and nervous s ys tems. Malignant
tu mo rs were a common accompaniment of the dis eas e. Reichens tein’s dis eas e is now chiefly of
his toric interes t, for new water s upplies were provided a quarte r of a century ago, from which
arsenic was largely eliminated. In Córdoba Province in Argenti na, howe ver, chronic ars enic
poisoning, accompanied by ars enical s kin cancers , is endemic becaus e of the contamination of
drinking water derived from rock formations containing arsenic.
It would not be difficult to create conditions s imilar to thos e in Reichens tein and Córdoba by
long continue d us e of arsenical insecticides. In the United States the arsenic-drenc hed s oils of
tobacco plantations , of many orchards in the Northwes t, and of blue berry lands in the Eas t may
easily lead to pollution of water supplies. An arsenic-contaminated environment affects not
only man but animals as well. A report of great interest came from Germa ny in 1936. In the
area about Freiberg, Saxony, smelters for silver and lead poured arsenic fumes into the air, to
drift out ove r the s urrounding countrys ide and s ettle down upon the vegetation. According to
Dr. Hueper, horses, cows, goats , and pigs , which of cours e fed on this vegetation, s howed los s
of hair and thickening of the s kin. Deer inhabiting nearby fores ts s ometimes had abnormal
pigment s pots and precancerous warts. One had a definitely cancerous lesion. Both domes tic
and wild animals were affected by ‘arsenical enteritis, gastric ulcers, and cirrhosis of the liver.’
Sheep kept near the s melters developed cancers of the nas al s inus ; at their death ars enic was
found in the brain, liver, and tumors. In the area there was also ‘an extraordinary mortality
among ins ects , es pecially bees. After rainfalls which was hed the arsenical dust from the leaves
and carried it along into the water of brooks and pools, a great many fis h died.’...
An example of a carcinogen belonging to the group of new, organic pes ticides is a chemical
widely used against mites and ticks. Its his tory provi des abundant proof that, des pite the
s uppos ed s afeguards provided by legis lation, the public can be expos ed to a known carcinogen
for several years before the slowly moving legal processes can bring the situation unde r control.
The s tory is interes ting from anothe r s tandpoint, proving that what the public is as ked to accept
as ‘safe’ today may turn out tomorrow to be extre mely dangerous. When this chemical was
introduced in 1955, the manufacture r applied for a tolerance which would s anction the
pres ence of s mall res idues on any crops that might be s prayed. As requi red by law, he had
tes ted the chemical on laboratory animals and submitted the results with his application.
Howeve r, s cientis ts of the Food and Drug Admi nis tration inte rprete d the tes ts as s howing a
pos s ible cancer-producing tendency and the Commis s ioner accordingly recomme nde d a ‘zero
tolerance’, which is a way of saying that no res idues could legally occur on food s hipped acros s
state lines. But the manufacturer had the legal right to appeal and the case was accordingly
reviewed by a committee. The committee’s decision was a compromise: a tolerance of 1 part
per million was to be es tablis hed and the product marke ted for two yea rs , during which time
further laboratory tests were to determine whether the chemical was actually a carcinogen.
Although the committee did not s ay s o, its decis ion meant that the public was to act as guinea
pigs , tes ting the s us pected carcinogen along with the laboratory dogs and rats. But laboratory