May 22, 2019
Silent Ding(bat)
Timothy Birdnow
Rachel Carson - serial killer.
Yes, Carson may have meant well. But she was more of a creative writer than a researcher, and her apocalyptic prose moved the public in a profound way. Carson may not have realized what she was accomplishing, but she did it nonetheless. We know what is paved with good intentions.
There has never been a good substitute for DDT.
Rachel Carson - serial killer.
Carson caused the deaths of millions with her unproven and false claims.
From the article:
Carson made it clear that she wasn’t talking about something that might happen – she was talking about something that had happened. Our war against nature had become a war against ourselves.
In May 1963, Rachel Carson appeared before the Department of Commerce and asked for a "Pesticide Commission†to regulate the untethered use of DDT. Ten years later, Carson’s "Pesticide Commission†became the Environmental Protection Agency, which immediately banned DDT. Following America’s lead, support for international use of DDT quickly dried up.
[...]
Since the mid-1970s, when DDT was eliminated from global eradication efforts, tens of millions of people have died from malaria unnecessarily: most have been children less than five years old. While it was reasonable to have banned DDT for agricultural use, it was unreasonable to have eliminated it from public health use.
From the article:
Carson made it clear that she wasn’t talking about something that might happen – she was talking about something that had happened. Our war against nature had become a war against ourselves.
In May 1963, Rachel Carson appeared before the Department of Commerce and asked for a "Pesticide Commission†to regulate the untethered use of DDT. Ten years later, Carson’s "Pesticide Commission†became the Environmental Protection Agency, which immediately banned DDT. Following America’s lead, support for international use of DDT quickly dried up.
[...]
Since the mid-1970s, when DDT was eliminated from global eradication efforts, tens of millions of people have died from malaria unnecessarily: most have been children less than five years old. While it was reasonable to have banned DDT for agricultural use, it was unreasonable to have eliminated it from public health use.
Yes, Carson may have meant well. But she was more of a creative writer than a researcher, and her apocalyptic prose moved the public in a profound way. Carson may not have realized what she was accomplishing, but she did it nonetheless. We know what is paved with good intentions.
There has never been a good substitute for DDT.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
08:22 AM
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