She wrote, “No responsible person contends that insect-borne disease should be ignored. The question that has now urgently presented itself is whether it is either wise or responsible to attack the problem by methods which are rapidly making it worse.
"The list of resistant species now includes practically all of the insect groups of medical importance. Practical advice should be spray as little as you can.”
The scientist who, at a promotion of DDT, stirred a spoon of the stuff into his drink, was conducting an unscientific, fraudulent experiment.
It provided no information about possible long-term effects of DDT or their absence.
Neither he nor Emerson considered the ecological effects of bioaccumulation of a persistent organic pollutant along a food chain, as in a creek.
Before Silent Spring was published, some European countries had banned DDT.
We should all be grateful to Carson for changing public and political attitudes so that a cautious attitude to agricultural and other uses of new chemicals becomes more normal.
Before Carson, all manner of dangerous substances were used without any qualms.
Remember asbestos, lead and mercury?
