Scientific Discoveries
In 1962 Carson published Silent Spring, a manifesto warning about the deadly effects of DDT on plant and animal life, claiming that the pesticide caused cancer, genetic defects, and damage to the world's food supply. Carson's best-selling tome induced a manic wave of anti-pesticide hysteria and the author soon became a cause célèbre. She was the star witness at several Congressional hearings on the subject. Because of her book, anti-DDT sentiment grew so strong that the Environmental Protection Agency banned its use in the United States and in any nation receiving American foreign aid.
"Without this book, the environmental movement might have been long delayed or never have developed at all," says Al Gore, who credits Carson for inspiring his own environmental activism.
Today, however, the claims made in Silent Spring are largely dismissed by scientists. Todd Seavey of the American Council on Health and Science has noted: "No DDT-related human fatalities or chronic illnesses have ever been recorded, even among the DDT-soaked workers in anti-malarial programs or among prisoners who were fed DDT as volunteer test subjects — let alone among the 600 million to 1 billion who lived in repeatedly-sprayed dwellings at the height of the substance's use. The only recorded cases of DDT poisoning were from massive accidental or suicidal ingestions, and even in these cases, it was probably the kerosene solvent rather than the DDT itself that caused illness. Reports of injury to birds could not be verified, even when one researcher force-fed DDT-laced worms to baby robins. Reports of fish kills have been greatly exaggerated, resulting from faulty data or aberrant, massive spills or overuse of the chemical that do not hint at a general danger in its use."
Notwithstanding the new evidence, many of Carson's most devoted disciples remain committed to her theories. Among her most ardent supporters, in addition to Al Gore, are Teresa Heinz Kerry, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Howard Heinz Endowment.
Some groups, such as Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund, have made allowances for the new evidence and have changed their position from demanding a worldwide DDT ban, to now consenting to its limited use.
The impact of Carson's work has been monumental, its effects disastrous. It led to the DDT ban, which in turn led to the deaths of millions of Africans (mostly young children) killed by diseases such as malaria that DDT could have prevented.
For an in-depth look at Silent Spring's mistaken assertions about DDT, and an analysis of the disastrous ramifications Carson's book had in terms of environmental policy, see "Malaria Victims: How the Environmental Left's Ban on DDT Caused 50 Million People to Die Needlessly."
She was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Jimmy Carter in 1980
"Without this book, the environmental movement might have been long delayed or never have developed at all," says Al Gore, who credits Carson for inspiring his own environmental activism.
Today, however, the claims made in Silent Spring are largely dismissed by scientists. Todd Seavey of the American Council on Health and Science has noted: "No DDT-related human fatalities or chronic illnesses have ever been recorded, even among the DDT-soaked workers in anti-malarial programs or among prisoners who were fed DDT as volunteer test subjects — let alone among the 600 million to 1 billion who lived in repeatedly-sprayed dwellings at the height of the substance's use. The only recorded cases of DDT poisoning were from massive accidental or suicidal ingestions, and even in these cases, it was probably the kerosene solvent rather than the DDT itself that caused illness. Reports of injury to birds could not be verified, even when one researcher force-fed DDT-laced worms to baby robins. Reports of fish kills have been greatly exaggerated, resulting from faulty data or aberrant, massive spills or overuse of the chemical that do not hint at a general danger in its use."
Notwithstanding the new evidence, many of Carson's most devoted disciples remain committed to her theories. Among her most ardent supporters, in addition to Al Gore, are Teresa Heinz Kerry, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Howard Heinz Endowment.
Some groups, such as Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund, have made allowances for the new evidence and have changed their position from demanding a worldwide DDT ban, to now consenting to its limited use.
The impact of Carson's work has been monumental, its effects disastrous. It led to the DDT ban, which in turn led to the deaths of millions of Africans (mostly young children) killed by diseases such as malaria that DDT could have prevented.
For an in-depth look at Silent Spring's mistaken assertions about DDT, and an analysis of the disastrous ramifications Carson's book had in terms of environmental policy, see "Malaria Victims: How the Environmental Left's Ban on DDT Caused 50 Million People to Die Needlessly."
She was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Jimmy Carter in 1980