abroad, and mos t of them have come as hitchhikers on plants. In new territory, out of reach of
the res training hand of the natural enemies that ke pt down its numbe rs in its native land, an
invading plant or animal is able to become enormously abundant. Thus it is no accident that our
mos t troubles ome ins ects are introduced s pecies. Thes e invasions , both the naturally occurring
and thos e depe ndent on human as s is tance, are likely to continue indefinitely. Qua rantine and
massive chemical campaigns are only extremely expensive ways of buying time. We are f a c ed,
according to Dr. Elton, ‘with a life-and-death need not jus t to find new tec hnological means of
s uppres s ing this plant or that animal’; instead we need the basic knowledge of animal
populations and their relations to their s urroundings that will ‘promote an even balance and
damp down the explos ive powe r of outbreaks and new invas ions .’
Much of the neces s ary knowledge is now available but we do not us e it. We train ecologis ts in
our unive rs ities and even employ them in our governmental agencies but we s eldom take their
advice. We allow the chemical death rain to fall as though there we re no alterna tive, whereas
in fact there are many, and our ingenuity could s oon dis cover many more if given opportunity.
Have we fallen into a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is inferior
or detri men tal, as though having los t the will or the vision to demand that which is good? Such
thinking, in the words of the ec ologis t Paul Shepard, ‘idealizes life with only its head out of
water, inches above the limits of toleration of the corruption of its own environment... Why
should we tolerate a diet of weak poisons, a home in insipid surroundings, a circle of
acquaintances who are not quite our ene mies, the nois e of motors with jus t enough relief to
preve nt ins anity? Who would wa nt to live in a world which is just not quite fatal?’
Yet s uch a world is pres s ed upon us. The crus ade to create a chemically s terile, ins ect-free
worl d s eems to have engendered a fanatic zeal on the part of many specialists and most of the
so-called control agencies. On every hand there is evidence that thos e engaged in s praying
operati ons exercis e a ruthles s power. ‘The regulatory entomologis ts ...function as pros ecutor,
judge and jury, tax as s es s or and collector and s heriff to e nforce their own orde rs ,’ s aid
Connecticut e ntomologis t Neely Turner. The mos t flagrant abus es go unchecked in both s tate
and federal agencies. It is not my contention that chemical ins ecticides mus t never be us ed. I do
contend that we have put pois onous and biologically potent chemicals indiscriminately into the
hands of persons largely or wholly ignorant of their potentials for harm. We have s ubjected
enormous numbers of people to contact with thes e poisons , without thei r cons ent and often
without their knowledge. If the Bill of Rights contains no guarantee that a citizen shall be secure
against lethal poisons distributed either by private individuals or by public officials, it is surely
only becaus e our forefathers, despite their cons iderable wis dom and fores ight, could conceive
of no s uch problem.
I contend, furthermore, that we have allowed thes e chemicals to be us ed with little or no
advance investigation of their effect on soil, water, wildlife, and ma n hims elf. Future
generations are unlikely to condone our lack of prude nt concern for the integrity of the natural
world that supports all life. There is still very limited awareness of the nature of the threat. This
is an era of specialists, each of whom sees his own proble m and is unaware of or intolerant of
the larger frame into which it fits. It is also an era dominated by industry, in which the right to
make a dollar at whatever cos t is s eldom challenged. When the public protes ts , confronte d with
s ome obvious evidence of damaging results of pesticide applications, it is fed little tranquilizing
pills of half truth. We urgently need an e nd to thes e fals e ass urances , to the s ugar coating of
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