Rachel Carson was an American biologist well known for her writings on environmental pollution and the natural history of the sea. Her book, Silent Spring (1962), became one of the most influential books in the modern environmental movement and provided the impetus for tighter control of pesticides, including DDT.
Carson is hailed as one of the most important conservationists in history and is recognized as the mother of modern environmentalism. She challenged the use of man-made chemicals, and her research led to the nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides.
She alerted the world to the environmental impact of fertilizers and pesticides. Her best-known book, Silent Spring, led to a presidential commission that largely endorsed her findings and helped to shape a growing environmental consciousness.
Carson taught at the University of Maryland for five years before joining the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1936. Her first book, Under the Sea-Wind (1941), described marine life in clear, elegant and non-technical prose. She retained her government job through the 1940s, in part to help support her mother and her sister's two orphaned daughters. In 1951 she published The Sea Around Us, which became an immediate best-seller and freed her from financial worry.
Rachel Carson's first book, Under the Sea-Wind, was published in 1941. The Sea Around Us (1951) won a National Book Award, and The Edge of the Sea was published in 1955. Her influential Silent Spring (1962) became a best seller. The Sense of Wonder (1965) was published posthumously.
Silent Spring was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, but it spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy, led to a nationwide ban onDDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) for agricultural uses, and inspired an environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In 1972, EPA issued a cancellation order for DDT based on its adverse environmental effects, such as those to wildlife, as well as its potential human health risks. Since then, studies have continued, and a relationship between DDT exposure and reproductive effects in humans is suspected, based on studies in animal.
Human health effects from DDT at low environmental doses are unknown. Following exposure to high doses, human symptoms can include vomiting, tremors or shakiness, and seizures. Laboratory animal studies showed effects on the liver and reproduction. DDT is considered a possible human carcinogen.
, Rachel Carson conducted research into the effects of pesticides on the food chain. Rachel Carson died of a heart attack and complications of cancer in April 14, 1964. Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1980.
RACHEL CARSON
Comments
Post a Comment