Silent Spring

Rachel Carson published her bestselling novel Silent Spring in 1962. In her novel, Carson depicted how the pesticide DDT entered the food chain, accumulated in the fatty tissues of animals causing genetic damage and eventually cancer. As a result of the novel, there were many positive consequences, which can still be seen today. In general, Carson’s novel helped launch the environmental movement. Her book helped humans realize that nature is vulnerable and is largely affected by what we as humans do to it. More specifically, Silent Spring helped bring about the ban on DDT in the United States. In the book Carson depicted how even one application of DDT continued to kill insects for weeks and even months and how it not only kills the targeted insects, but other insects as well. The book also pointed out how DDT persists in the environment for long periods of time, even after it has been diluted by rainwater. President John F. Kennedy ordered the Presidential Science Advisory Committee to investigate Carson’s claims. The committee found that Carson’s claims were valid and this substantiation of Carson’s claims led to governmental scrutiny of DDT and eventually to the ban on DDT.
While Carson and Silent Spring have had many positive effects, they have also led to many unintended consequences. In the mid 1960’s the Global Malaria Eradication Program was successful in eradicated Malaria in several countries and regions of the world including the Balkans, the American South, several Latin American countries, Taiwan, countries in North Africa, much of Australia and the South Pacific, and much of the Caribbean using DDT. However, Carson’s claims brought programs like these to a grinding halt. As a result, DDT was is no longer used to combat Malaria and as a result the WHO(World Health Organization) estimates that there are between 300 and 500 cases of Malaria annually around the globe and that it is responsible for approximately 1 million deaths around the world each year. Today, instead of using DDT, these countries are forced to use less effective substitutes to kill the mosquitoes. Since these substitutes are less potent, larger quantities of them must be used. As a result of using larger quantities of the less potent substitutes, more insecticides are being poured into the environment than would be if smaller quantities of the more potent DDT were used. While the many positive consequences of Caron’s work are very apparent, Silent Spring has also led to many unintended consequences.