Silent Spring is an environmental science book by Rachel Carson published in September 27, 1962, and the book documented environmental harm caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation and public officials of accepting the industry’s marketing claims unquestionably. The Silent Spring book brought environmental concerns to the American public. It swayed public opinion and lead to reversal in American pesticide policy, a nationwide ban on DDT for agricultural uses, and an environmental movement that lead to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. It gave the impetus for biological pest control and integrated pest management in 1960s. Later, entomologists all over the world tried to develop biological control and integrated pest management strategies for pests of crops to minimize the hazards of pesticides. Now organic farming is being promoted to avoid pollution of soil, water, environment and to save natural enemies of pests and human health. Cultural and biological control of pests in sugarcane have given encouraging results in Punjab, it promoted and made possible organic farming of sugarcane. Sugarcane Entomologists have played an important role to make the spring partially cheerful as it was earlier.
In the late 1950s, Carson began to work on environmental conservation, especially environmental problems that she believed were caused by synthetic pesticides. The result of research was Silent Spring, which brought environmental concerns to the American public. The book was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, but it swayed public opinion and lead to reversal in United States pesticide policy a nationwide ban on DDT for agricultural uses, and an environmental movement that lead to the creation of the U.S. Environment Protection Agency. In 2006, Silent Spring was named one of the 25 greatest science books of all time by the editor of Discover Magazine.
In the mid-1940s, Carson became concerned about the use of synthetic pesticides, many of which had been developed through the military funding of science after World War II. The United States Department of Agriculture’s 1957 fire ants eradication program, which involved aerial spraying of DDT and other pesticides mixed with fuel oil and included the spraying of private land, promoted Carson to devote her research, and her next book, to pesticides and environmental poisons. Landowners in Long Island filed a suit to have the spraying stopped, and many in affected regions followed the case closely. Though the suit was lost, the Supreme Court granted petitioners the write to gain injunctions against potential environmental damage in the future, laying the basis for later environmental actions.
The impetus for Silent Spring was a letter written in January 1958 by Carson’s friend, Olga Owens Huckins, to The Boston Herald, describing the death of birds among the property in Duxbury Massachusetts, resulting from the aerial spraying of DDT to kill mosquitoes, a copy of which Huckins sent to Carson. Carson later wrote that this letter promoted her to study the environmental problems caused by chemical pesticides. Audubon Naturalist Society opposed chemical spraying programs and recruited Carson to help publicize the U.S. Government’s spraying practices and related research. As her research progressed, Carson founded a sizeable community of scientists who were documenting the physiological and environmental effects of pesticides. Many government scientists supplied her with confidential Information on the subject. She suggested biological control and integrated pest management as alternative methods of chemical control.
Research at the National Library of Medicine of the National Institute of Health brought Carson into contact with medical researchers investigating the gamut of cancer-causing chemicals. By 1960 Carson had sufficient research material and she was progressing rapidly. She had investigated hundreds individual incidents of pesticide exposure and the resulting human sickness and ecological damage. However, her health trouble, cancer in left breast delayed the final revisions in 1961 and early 1962.
The overarching theme of Silent Spring is the powerful and often negative effect humans have on the natural world. Carson’s main argument is that pesticides have detrimental effects on the environment; she says these are more properly termed “ biocides “ because their effects are rarely limited to solely targeting insects. DDT is a prime example, but other synthetic pesticides- many of which are subject to bioaccumulation are scrutinized. Carson accuses the chemical industry of intentionally spreading disinformation and public officials of accepting industry claims uncritically. Most of the book is devoted to pesticides effects on natural ecosystems, causes of human pesticide poisoning, cancer, and the other illnesses attributed to pesticides. Carson predicts increased consequences in the future, especially since targeted pests may develop resistance to pesticides and weakened ecosystems fall prey to unanticipated invasive species. This book closes with a call for the biotech approach to pest control as an alternative to chemical pesticides. Carson's book is based on the information provided by the Entomologists working in toxicology and ecology research programs.
Carson never called for an outright ban on DDT. She said in Silent Spring that even if DDT and other insecticides had no environmental side effects, their indiscriminate over use was counterproductive because it would create insect resistance to pesticides, making them useless in eliminating the target insect populations. In 1973, DDT was banned in United States. It is still used in some countries to kill mosquitos, but many mosquitoes have now built up immunity to DDT, likely from too much sprays. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980 by President of America. In 2012 Silent Spring was designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark by the American Chemical Society for its role in the development of the modern environmental movement.
Rachel Carson was born in a family farm near Springdale on May 27, 1907. She began writing stories at age eight. She originally studied English at the Pennsylvania Womens College but switched her major to Biology in January 1928, and completed her master degree in Zoology and Genetics in 1932 at Johns Hopkins. She had intended to continue for a doctorate, however in 1934 Carson was forced to leave Johans Hopkins to search for a full-time teaching position to support her family during the Great Depression. Carson met Dorothy M. Freeman in 1953 on Southport Island Maine. Over 12 years they exchanged 900 letters. Weakened from breast cancer she became ill due to respiratory virus in January 1964. She had severe anemia from her radiation treatments and in March the cancer had reached her liver. She died of a heart attack on April 14, 1964, in her home in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Punjab is facing serious problem of pollution due to excessive use of pesticides, weedicides and fungicides in agriculture. The centre government has great pressure on the state to grow more food to cope with the growing population 1.4 billion that was only 0.35 billion in 1950. Punjab is dying now due to accumulation of chemicals in the water, soil and ultimately in vegetable, food grains, fruits, and milk which resulted many diseases like cancer. Water table has decreased significantly. These are all ill effects of green revolution in 1960s. These 50 years of increased productivity, however, are thought to have been fuelled by excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides. Punjab was a food basket, now it is a disease basket. It is the need of the day to adopt organic farming to save Punjab. Sugarcane entomologists have developed effective Integrated Pest Management and biological control for this crop and with this strategy we can grow sugarcane crop without synthetic chemicals. Important ingredients of Integrated Pest Management are resistant varieties, cultural and mechanical control, biocontrol and use of safer pesticides only on need-base. Mass rearing of parasites laboratory was established in 1980s at Punjab Agricultural University, Sugarcane Research Station Jalandhar and some recommendations were given and included in the Packages and Practices. Now everyone is aware of the result of pollution and decreasing water table, and it is time to take action to solve these problems and save Punjab.
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