Pesticides, A Love Story: America's Enduring Embrace of Dangerous Chemicals

Abstract

Despite its somewhat clichéd title, Pesticides, A Love Story is an impressive, thought-provoking work of value to historians specializing in the twentieth century, U.S. diplomacy, environmental politics, science and technology, public health, food policy, communications, and other topics pertaining to the ways synthetic chemical pesticides have endured many challenges to become an entrenched part of modern industrial agriculture. The book examines the history of U.S. pesticide use and regulation from World War II to the present as a long yet stormy marriage—from first love through fights, ultimatums, accommodation, idealization, and recommitment. Michelle Mart mobilizes government archives, mainstream media, and classic and cutting-edge historiographical analyses to address the paradox of why chemical pesticide usage has increased despite the apparent success of Rachel Carson's famous 1962 exposé Silent Spring. The answers are complex and fascinating. By dissecting the language and framing strategies used by Carson and other critics, Mart demonstrates how even seemingly radical challenges to the postwar pesticide regime focused on reforming only the most egregious aspects of the system. Such a narrow framework enabled chemical companies and other vested interests to co-opt environmentalist challenges and adapt to new regulations against notorious classes of pesticides (especially organochlorines) by developing less persistent yet still problematic compounds (such as organophosphates).