Please make sure to read the addendum at the end.
She was 56 years old, dying from breast cancer, going through chemo and radiation after a double mastectomy, and was raising her deceased niece's 10-year-old son as her own.
She spent a lifetime unmarried because family duty always called. First, she raised her nieces, dropped out of her PhD to earn money for her family when her father became ill, cared for her ailing mother, and finally raised her grandnephew.
She was born and raised in a time when men didn't think women should be scientists, they should be homemakers.
Her doctor's lied to her and told her her breast tumors were benign.
She received a full scholarship to Johns Hopkins University, when very few woman went to college.
Her research found that
DDT was causing sterility and a decline in bald eagles, the thinning of bird's eggshells, and how the effects were passed through the food chain from water to fish...
She imagined the effects on humans.
As children were playing in the "fog" behind the trucks that sprayed.
That John F. Kennedy read.
Her book sparked:
The Environmental Policy act
of 1969
The clean air act
The clean water act
The Insecticide,fungicide, and rodenticide act
The safe drinking water act
The Environmental pesticides control act
and
and the Toxic substances control act.
Who was a hero.
(1907-1964)
~Jen
P.S. Happy Earth Day!
Addendum: Due to some of the comments I wanted to make sure to explain how the banning of DDT has worked and the subsequent fall out. Rachel Carson is not a mass murderer. All she did was write a book with what she saw. While the book helped ban a pesticide that was no longer being used appropriately in the USA( that had large scale negative impact.), the ultimate decision rested with the governing forces. People here weren't using it for health reasons to save lives as in other countries. They were using it for their lawns, gardens, crops and overstock fish, all in excess; and all of which could easily be controlled by less toxic uses.
And while it promoted the banning of DDT in the US; It also spawned many other acts. I, for one, like clean, safe drinking water and breathable air.
DDT is STILL TODAY used in countries with Malaria. It is only banned in the US where Malaria has been eradicated. I am sure if Malaria resurged in the US, and it were the only option, they would even consider reactivating it's use as life cost outweighs health cost. As of now, the U.S. has found less toxic and more appropriate ways to control mosquitoes, and luckily Malaria is not here. As a mother I can not even imagine the heartache and devastation.
According to the the African American Environmentalist Association:
"DDT should be used in African countries as it was in the United States for decades until malaria is irradicated. Then, use should be limited. Although other groups charge that DDE (from breakdown of DDT) is found in mothers milk, such effects are not comparable to the deadly effects of malaria. Malaria must be eliminated. And DDT is the best way to eliminate the parasite. Kill the insect. Stop the parasite carried by the insect. Then reduce or eliminate use of DDT. During the approximately 30 years that DDT was used in the U.S., almost 700,000 tons wer sprayed onto cotton and other crops. The peak year was 1958, when nearly 80 million pounds of DDT was sprayed onto American farmlands."
