the m in our bureau drawe rs for a half year’s freedom fro m worry ove r moth da mage. The
advertis ements contain no s ugges tion that lindane is dangerous. Neither do the ads for an
electronic device that dis pens es lindane fumes—we are told that it is safe and odorless. Yet the
truth of the matte r is that the American Medical Association considers lindane vaporizers so
dangerous that it conducted an extended campaign against them in its Journal.
The Department of Agriculture, in a Home and Garde n Bulletin, advis es us to s pray our clothing
with oil s olutions of DDT, dieldrin, chlordane, or any of several other moth killers. If excessive
s praying res ults in a white depos it of ins ecticide on the fabric, this may be re move d by
brus hing, the Departme nt s ays , omitting to caution us to be careful whe re and how the
brus hing is done. All thes e matte rs attende d to, we may round out our day with ins ecticides by
going to s leep under a mothproof blanket i mpregnated with dieldrin. Gardening is now firmly
linked with the s upe r pois ons. Every ha rdwa re s tore, garden-s upply s hop, and s upermarket has
rows of insecticides for every conceivable horticultural situation. Those who fail to make wide
us e of this array of lethal sprays and dusts are by implication remiss, for almost every
news paper’s garden page and the majority of the gardening magazi nes ta ke thei r us e f or
granted. So extens ively are even the rapidly lethal organic phos phorus ins ecticides applied to
lawns and ornamental plants that in 1960 the Florida State Board of Health found it necessary
to forbid the commercial use of pesticides in residential areas by anyone who had not firs t
obtained a pe rmit and met ce rtain require ments. A number of deaths from parathion had
occurred in Florida before this regulation was adopted.
Little is done, howeve r, to warn the gardener or homeowner that he is handling extremely
dangerous mate rials. On the contrary, a constant stream of new gadgets make it easier to use
pois ons on lawn and garden—and increas e the gardener’s contact with them. One may get a
jar-type attachment for the garden hos e, for example, by which s uch extremely dangerous
chemicals as chlordane or dieldrin are applied as one waters the lawn. Such a device is not only
a hazard to the pers on us ing the hos e, it is als o a public menace. The New York Times found it
necessary to issue a warning on its garden page to the effect that unless s pecial protective
devices were ins talled pois ons might get to the water s upply by back s iphonage. Cons idering
the numbe r of s uch devices that are in us e, and the s carcity of warnings s uch as this , do we
need to wonde r why our public waters are contaminated?
As an example of what may happen to the gardene r hims elf, we might look at the cas e of a
physician—an enthus ias tic s paretime gardene r—who began us ing DDT and then malathion on
his s hrubs and lawn, making regular weekly applications. Sometimes he applied the chemicals
with a hand s pray, s ometi mes with an attachment to his hos e. In doing s o, his s kin and clothing
were often s oaked with s pray. After about a year of this s ort of thing, he s uddenly collaps ed
and was hospitalized. Examination of a biopsy specimen of fat showed an accumulation of 23
parts per million of DDT. There was extens ive nerve damage, which his phys icians regarded as
permanent. As time went on he lost weight, suffered extreme fatigue, and experienced a
peculiar muscular weakness, a characteristic effect of malathion. All of these persisting effects
were severe enough to make it difficult for the physician to carry on his practice. Bes ides the
once innocuous garden hos e, power mowe rs als o have been fitted with devices for the
dissemination of pes ticides , attachments that will dis pens e a cloud of vapor as the home owner
goes about the tas k of mowing his lawn. So to the potentially dangerous fumes from gasoline
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