Food, Soil, and Pest Management - Environmental Science - page 229

Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson
(1907-1964) was
a pioneer in in-
creasing public
awareness of the
importance of
nature and the threat of pollution
from pesticides. She began her pro-
fessional career as a biologist for the
Bureau of U.S. Fisheries (later the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). In
that capacity, she carried out re-
search on oceanography and marine
biology and wrote articles about the
oceans and topics related to the
environment.
In 1951, Carson wrote The Sea
Around Us, which described in
easily understandable terms the
natural history of oceans and how
human activities were harming
them. Her topic sold more than
2 million copies, was translated into
32 languages, and won a National
Book Award.
During the late 1940s and
throughout the 1950s, DDT and re-
lated compounds were increasingly
used to kill insects that ate food
crops, attacked trees, bothered peo-
ple, and transmitted diseases such
as malaria.
In 1958, DDT was sprayed to
control mosquitoes near the home
and private bird sanctuary of one of
Carson's friends. After the spraying,
her friend witnessed the agonizing

deaths of several birds. She begged
Carson to find someone to investi-
gate the effects of pesticides on
birds and other wildlife.
Carson decided to look into the
issue herself. She found that inde-
pendent research on the environ-
mental effects of pesticides was
almost nonexistent. A well-trained
scientist, she surveyed the scientific
literature, became convinced that
pesticides could harm wildlife and
humans, and methodically devel-
oped information about the harmful
effects of widespread use of
pesticides.
In 1962, she published her find-
ings in popular form in Silent
Spring, whose title alluded to the
silencing of “robins, catbirds, doves,
jays, wrens, and scores of other bird
voices” because of their exposure to
pesticides. Many scientists,
politicians, and policy
makers read Silent
Spring, and the pub-
lic embraced it.
Chemical man-
ufacturers viewed
the topic as a seri-
ous threat to their
booming pesti-
cide sales and
mounted a cam-
paign to discredit
Carson. A parade of
critical reviewers and

industry scientists claimed her topic
was full of inaccuracies, made selec-
tive use of research findings, and
failed to give a balanced account of
the benefits of pesticides.
Some critics even claimed that,
as a woman, Carson was incapable
of understanding such a highly sci-
entific and technical subject. Others
charged that she was a hysterical
woman and a radical nature lover
trying to scare the public in an effort
to sell topics.
During these intense attacks,
Carson was suffering from terminal
cancer. Yet she strongly defended
her research and countered her
critics. She died in 1964—about
18 months after the publication of
Silent Spring —without knowing
that many historians consider her
work an important contribution
to the modern environmental move-
ment then emerging in the
United States.

INDIVIDUALS
MATTER

Figure 10-A Biologist
Rachel Carson (1907-64)
greatly increased our
understanding of the
importance of nature and
the potential harmful ef-
fects of widespread use
of pesticides. She died
without knowing that her ef-
forts were a key in beginning
the modern environmental
movement in the United States.

Newer pesticides are safer and more effective than many
older ones. Greater use is being made of botanicals and
microbotanicals. Derived originally from plants, they
are safer for users and less damaging to the environ-
ment than many older pesticides. Genetic engineering
is also being used to develop pest-resistant crop strains
and genetically altered crops that produce pesticides.
Many new pesticides are used at very low rates per unit
area compared to older products. Application amounts
per hectare for many new herbicides are 1/100 the
rates for older ones, and genetically engineered crops
could reduce the use of toxic insecticides.

Scientists continue to search for the ideal pest-killing
chemical, which would have these qualities:

Kill only the target pest

■

■ Not cause genetic resistance in the target
organism

■ Disappear or break down into harmless chemicals
after doing its job

Be more cost-effective than doing nothing

■

The search continues, but so far no known natural or
synthetic pesticide chemical meets all—or even
most—of these criteria.
The ideal insect pest would attack a variety of plants,
be highly prolific, have a short generation time and few
natural predators, and be genetically resistant to a
number of pesticides. The silverleaf whitefly has these

Science: The Ideal Pesticide and Pest
Scientists work to develop more effective and safer
pesticides, but through coevolution pests find ways to
combat the pesticides we throw at them.