Toxic Pesticides In Silent Spring By Rachel Carson

In publishing Silent Spring, Rachel Carson brought awareness to the harmful effects pesticides have on health. She shed light on the fact that we use these toxic pesticides without knowing the consequences they will have on public health. Carson says, “I contend, furthermore, that we have allowed these chemicals to be used with little or no advance investigation of their effect on soil, water, wildlife, and man himself...There is still very limited awareness of the nature of the threat." Toxic pesticides should not be used without knowing the threats that follow. Plentiful research needs to be administered before using toxic pesticides in a large amount. Since science has not entirely advanced for this to be possible in all cases, toxic pesticides should not be used if they do more harm than good. …show more content…
It can be argued that over time, DDT caused more harm than good. While using DDT saved millions of people, it also resulted in unfavorable health effects on humans such as cancer and reproductive effects. Carson explains that DDT was considered unharmful for a while because soldiers, refugees, and prisoners dusted DDT to get rid of lice and they did not experience any immediate effects. It later became clear that DDT dissolved in oil is toxic. Because of the mass spraying of DDT, people with no known exposure to DDT store an average of 5.3 parts per million to 7.4 parts per million. DDT can be found in human breast milk. There is a positive correlation between restriction of DDT and DDT concentration in human breast milk. DDT is now banned for major uses in several countries, including the United States because of the health effects it