Positive Reaction and Support
President John F. Kennedy
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The "PSAC" Report
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“Until publication of "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson, people were generally unaware of the toxicity of pesticides. - PSAC Report, 1963 page 44.
The Presidential Scientific Advisory Committee was created after the release of "Silent Spring." The purpose of the committee was to study the long term effects and dangers of pesticides. "Because of its general public interest, I am releasing the report for publication." [Signed John F. Kennedy] THE WHITE HOUSE, May 14, 1963 |
The New York Times
"The $300 million dollar pesticides industry has been highly irritated by a quiet woman author whose previous works on science have been praised for the beauty and precision of the writing." -Silent Spring Is Now Noisy Summer (John M. Lee)
This article was published in the New York Times in July of 1962. This was an important article because it revealed the pesticide industry's harsh reaction towards "Silent Spring" and Carson, even after their threats to sue Houghton Mifflin (the publisher of "Silent Spring") for communist ties.
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The Public
"Prior to Silent Spring, the American public had experienced the eradication of malaria on Pacific islands at the end of World War II that protected the health of American troops and the abatement of mosquitoes in the US by nighttime spraying programs, as well as marked decreases of malaria in Africa by DDT spraying and residual DDT on surfaces which kept mosquitoes from breeding. Other mosquito borne diseases such as dengue and viral encephalitis such as St Louis encephalitis were held in abatement. The other organochlorine pesticides, such as Chlordane were preventing termite damage and destruction of homes, and their use was often required by government regulation. So, the impression of public health protection from pesticides was challenged, necessitating rethinking how health risks could be controlled. This phenomenon was similar to the current skepticism about global warming that is gradually fading." -Thomas L. Kurt, MD, MPH Medical Toxicologist
Negative Reaction
After the release of "Silent Spring" the pesticide industry was furious, calling Carson a phony scientist and a communist sympathizer.
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Above video: Courtesy of Pesticides - DDT - Rachel Carson - Silent Spring.
Miss Rachel Carson’s reference to the selfishness of insecticide manufacturers probably reflects her Communist sympathies, like a lot of our writers these days. We can live without birds and animals, but, as the current market slump shows, we cannot live without business. As for insects, isn't it just like a woman to be scared to death of a few little bugs! As long as we have the H-bomb everything will be O.K.
—Letter to the editor of the New Yorker. Courtesy of The Science and Environmental Portal. |