EDITORIALLY S P E A K I N G
Silent is not the way for a chemist to be, especially a chemist in the classroom, after reading Rachel Carson's best seller, "Silent Spring." We can be sure that many others whom our students hear will not be silent. Usually those with an axe to grind will speak the loudest. For them a few facts go a long way. Their merging of information into speculation and on to a misconception is hard to detect--especially for students. "Silent Spring" is not a chemistry book. It is only sometimes a book about chemistry. It is a book dealing with a very important topic in our modern civilization, the use of chemicals, specifically pesticides. The nonchemist often regards the chemistry of pesticides-the stmctural formulas, the bio-synthetic pathways of metabolism, etc.-as extremely complicated, yet regards the problems of using these chemicals as simple. He may not even heed directions. Even worse, he may, if told only part of the facts by an author of splendid literary accomplishment, be unaware of the fragile foundations on which his opinions are based. There is a tragic similarity between the Twentieth Century thinking which brands the pesticide industry as crassly unconcerned about mankind's welfare and the Middle Ages opinion that Roger Bacon must have been in league with the devil. Recently the Nutrition Foundation and the Manufacturing Chemists Association have performed a valuable service by providing to a wide mailing list a collection of reviews of Miss Carson's hook reprinted from scientific publications. We regard it as very important that these views be made available to all citizens--especially those future citizens now in our classrooms. The following are examples: Dr. F. J. Stare, Chairman, Department of Nutrition, Hmvxrd School of Public Hedth, writing in Nullition Reoiews: .. ."Silent Spring" is so selective in the instances Miss Carson chooees to make her points that information the public should know about does not get through t o them. . ..The examples she cites to show the lethal effects of pesticides are all examples of improper use.. . . There never has been one medically documented death due t o proper uae of insecticides. Deaths due to improper use, says the USDA, todaled 89 in 1961. . . .Aspirin alone accidentally kills about 150 a year, most of them children. No one has suggested that we do away with a s p i r i n a r automobiles which kill thousands.
Dr. W. J. Darby, Head, Department oi Biochemistry, Vanderbilt School of Medicine, writing in C. & E. N m s : . . .Miss Cesson's failure to distinguish between the occupational and residue hazards is common to almost all papular writers on this suhject.. .. She has not produced one single exnmple of injury resulting to man from these residues. . . .The July-August 1962 World Health Organization publication reports that a malaria. eradication program in Mexico has since 1957 reduced the malarious area from 978,185 sq. km with 18 million inhabitants to 224,500 sq. km with 1.5 million inhabitants. In most areas the simple technique of indoor spraying of house proved effective. . .As a result of the campaign, the Mexican Government is expanding its agricultural program, distributing land and undertaking irrigation and hydroelectric schemes.
.
Dr. I. L. Baldwin, Chairman, Committee on Pest Control and Wildlife Relationships, National Academy of Science, National Research Council, writing in Science: .. .Mankind has been engaged in the process of upsetting the balance of nature since the dawn of civilization.. . . Modern amieulture and mndern
