Silent Spring turns 50

[VaporPunk]

So, I spent 30 seconds of research on this issue and discovered that Carson herself never called for a ban of DDT in the book. She warned against indiscriminate spraying of large quantities of it. Something that science, even her critics concede, backs up. From wikipedia article on Silent Spring.

Defenders of the book argue that Carson was sensitive to the problem of "insect-borne disease" and Silent Spring never called for the banning of DDT;[25] that when DDT stopped being used to fight malaria it was because mosquitoes had become resistant to it;[26][27] and that DDT was never banned by the US government or international treaty for use against malaria (its ban for agricultural use in the United States in 1972 did not apply outside the US or to anti-malaria spraying, the international treaty that did ban most uses of DDT and other organochlorine pesticides — the 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants — included an exemption for DDT for the use of malaria control until affordable substitutes could be found.[27])

[kennyc]

Thx VP!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

I noticed that the OP article was on the Atlantic web site, but not in their magazine. Instead, the article the web piece is closely based on was published in a much lower circulation magazine. I wonder if it was submitted first to the Atlantic magazine, and web publication is their compromise.

If they rejected it for being one-sided, I applaud the rejection.

It's been so long since I read the book, I could go any way here. Say it's mostly right. Or say it's the founding text of a quasi-religion. Or say that I'm glad MobileRead's lightly enforced anti-political-discussion/anti-religion policy means I've already said too much.

Not a compromise. They maintain two different presences (as many publishers are beginning to do) and in fact do not accept submissions to both simultaneously....something they state explicitly in their submission guidelines.

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by kennyc

You are entitled to your bias as well as Ralph is, that doesn't make it true.

The problem with bias is that often people don't realize they are biased... they just think they are right.

--
Bill

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by VaporPunk

So, I spent 30 seconds of research on this issue and discovered that Carson herself never called for a ban of DDT in the book. She warned against indiscriminate spraying of large quantities of it. Something that science, even her critics concede, backs up. From wikipedia article on Silent Spring.

Yes, the book itself did not call for DDT to be banned, but it doesn't change the fact that that is what the effect was. The environmental movement spawed by the book is often built on absolutism. If something is bad in some circumstances, ban it in every circumstance. Heck, you know there are environmentalists now who are calling for the voluntary extinction of the human species right?

--
Bill

[yekim54]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Heck, you know there are environmentalists now who are calling for the voluntary extinction of the human species right?

Do these particular "environmentalists" lead by example?

[VaporPunk]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Yes, the book itself did not call for DDT to be banned, but it doesn't change the fact that that is what the effect was. The environmental movement spawed by the book is often built on absolutism. If something is bad in some circumstances, ban it in every circumstance. Heck, you know there are environmentalists now who are calling for the voluntary extinction of the human species right?

--
Bill

Except DDT is not banned, the wikipedia article cited above states clearly that there is an exception for use as malaria control.

You can judge any movement, philosophy, or whatever by its extremes. Its an easy way to discredit anything you disagree with without having to look at the facts yourself. Not "you" personally, but in the general sense of the word.

[Greg Anos]

And the dead not not complain...