Abstract
The Silent Decade: Why It Took Ten Years to Ban DDT in the United States
Highlights
CHRIS WHITNEY “It is our alarming misfortune that so primitive a science has armed itself with the most modern and terrible weapons, and that in turning them against the insects it has turned them against the earth.”1 – Rachel Carson
Despite the impact created in the wake of Carson’s book and her desire to inform the public, there is one lingering question: In light of the large impact that Carson’s book had in 1962, why wasn’t DDT banned in the United States until 1972? This article will argue that the ten-year delay in the ban of DDT following the publication of Silent Spring was a result of the insecticide’s effectiveness in fighting malaria, public ignorance over the side effects of DDT until scientific research revealed ill effects on wildlife, and the lack of a federal regulating body to ban DDT until the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1970
Some saw Silent Spring as a danger to their reputations, but Carson criticized these scientists for placing themselves above scientific truth in order to appease the chemical industry
Summary
In order to completely understand the issues associated with DDT, one must know how the chemical operates once applied to an organism. DDT attacks the nervous system via the obstruction of natural nerve impulses, which can cause symptoms such as loss of coordination, convulsions, and vomiting in both animals and humans.[6] before scientific research was released during the 1960s and the publication of Silent Spring, no one could have understood the full extent to which DDT affected the entire natural environment, including human life This ignorance persisted until Rachel Carson helped bring these issues into the public eye. After four years Carson finished the book, which focused mainly on how DDT enters the fatty tissues of animals and humans via bioaccumulation in the food chain, causing cancer and genetic birth defects Her main argument stated that DDT’s long-lasting presence in the natural environment irreversibly affected the health of animals, birds (thinning of egg shells), and mammals while permanently poisoning the world food supply.[7] This chemical persistence would in turn create a “silent spring,” where no birds sang. Two of the major reasons behind the ban of DDT were the scientific evidence that exhibited buildup in the fatty tissues of wildlife while persisting in the natural environment and proved the existence of an evolutionary resistance that insects began to develop towards the chemical.[10]
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