Posted on 05/11/2006 3:32:58 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
Her ideology has led to more deaths than Stalin's purges, and brought misery to hundreds of millions more. But now, over 40 years after her death, her grip on the fate of countless developing nations may finally be at an end.
As the founder of the modern ecological movement, the American naturalist Rachel Carson is not an obvious candidate for the pantheon of evil. Her best-selling book Silent Spring, published in 1963, is widely credited with putting the interconnectedness of nature on the political agenda, and led to international bans on the use of the pesticide DDT, which she claimed was causing ecological disaster. Yet while her actions may have been motivated by the best of intentions, the consequences in human terms have been catastrophic. The ban on DDT robbed developing nations of a cheap, safe and effective means of combating malaria, which kills two million people each year.
That tots up to at least 50 million deaths since the bans took effect in the early 1970s. And for what? Even at the time, Carson's claims that DDT was responsible for everything from the thinning of eggshells to cancer in humans looked shaky. By the mid-1980s they had been utterly discredited. Yet by then Carson's claims had achieved the status of holy writ among environmentalists - and among right-on officials in government ministries. Third World nations were threatened with trade sanctions if they even suggested using DDT in fields or homes.
(Excerpt) Read more at thefirstpost.co.uk ...
Her wacky theory has caused untold deaths, not just from malaria, but yellow fever, equine fever and a host of other diseases. And, yet, the ban on DDT continues, to the detriment of the human race.
She deserves the "honor" of being called deadlier than Stalin - she was!! She is the embodiment of the irreversible damage and incredible danger that envirowackos worldwide are responsible for.
I wonder how many will die because the environmentalists won't let us turn over a rock in this country to get at domestic oil? We can continue to buy JIHAD JUICE at our peril.
We are INSANE not to be drilling in ANWR, no matter how much or how little oil is there. Pristine my butt....how about....GOD-FORSAKEN!
This is exciting news. They are going to allow the use of DDT in Africa. We can just sit back and wait for the spin on this one. The Drive By Media won't be able to stand it if anything good happens because of using DDT!
bump
Good science is not important. Science that pushes an agenda is.
Human life is not important. Animal life is.
Economic difficulties in a human society are not a bad thing. They're a good thing.
It's the Marxist "immiseration" philosophy.
I'm convinced Rachel Carson's war on DDT was a stealth population control measure, to reduce the number of poor brown people in the world. In that respect, she fits right in with Margaret Sanger, founder of the Planned Barrenhood system of death franchises; as well of course with Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao, etc.
Scams, Scalawags, and an all-too-gullible Public...famous frauds sold to America
Thank God the day of the envirowhack appears to almost be over. Rachel Carson and William Ruckelshaus have killed two or three times the number of people of whoever was in second place. Carson is probably down there getting it on with Hitler or Stalin right now in some sort of a boudoir kept at 1700 F.
Easy there, Laz! Cutting off a limb will not topple the tree.
Well, not utterly discredited. Perhaps the scope and scale of the alleged harm was discredited . . . maybe. After all, it is a chemical.
HIGHLIGHTS: Exposure to DDT, DDE, and DDD occurs mostly from eating foods containing small amounts of these compounds, particularly meat, fish and poultry. High levels of DDT can affect the nervous system causing excitability, tremors and seizures. In women, DDE can cause a reduction in the duration of lactation and an increased chance of having a premature baby. . . .
[. . .]
In animals, short-term exposure to large amounts of DDT in food affected the nervous system, while long-term exposure to smaller amounts affected the liver. Also in animals, short-term oral exposure to small amounts of DDT or its breakdown products may also have harmful effects on reproduction.
Browsing through the ToxFAQ suggests to me the decision to use DDT is strictly cost/benefit stuff. More people will live because of it than will become sick or die because of it. Guess we'll know in ten or twenty years.
What would Thomas Malthus say? :-)
Is that supposed to be satire?
She's dead. She died in 1965.
I'm threatening to kill a dead woman.
Thanks for posting this!!
Ahhh.
And me without my coffee missed the most important fact. Sorry.
"Pristine my butt....how about....GOD-FORSAKEN!"
You bet! Take a look at last months National Geographic. The author waxes poetic about all the wildlife there, but it IS a wasteland.
My father in law worked for years on the Alaskan pipline and claims that the wildlife returned as soon as they would quit working on a section.
Another observation: the domestic white tailed deer can be found in large numbers in suburban areas. They adapt just fine to mans "intrusion".
Thank's for posting this.
I remember my mom getting all caught up in the Rachel Carson stuff back then.
I never dreamt of how many tens of millions would die because of Carson.
I teach junior high history. School ends next month and so we have made it up to the 60s. Hippies, LBJ and Rachel Carson. I explained to the kids (since the text didn't) that Rachel and her book were responsible for more deaths than Stalin and Hitler combined. Simple math really. At least 1,000,000 deaths per year from malaria alone over the last 40 years.
When the ban DDT movement was starting a chemistry professor offered to eat a pound of DDT to show how harmless to humans it was. He did it too. And of course he died—of old age some 35 years later.
I recently had an arguement with a friend about this. She claimed that ddt was responsible for the near extinction of the bald eagle. While acknowledging that the ban on ddt has killed tens of millions of humans, she still holds that protecting animals is more important. When she nixed ANWAR because of the Exxon Valdez, I finally just had to change the subject.
What you said!!
I've been saying the exact same thing for years!! Even got into a spirited discussion at a party this weekend on the exact same topic.
Thanks goodness I still have two buckets of DDT in the back of my garage
For the life of me I can't remember his name right now, but he died on July 19th, 2004 at the age of 85 when he fell while moutain climbing!!!
I am conservative on most topics but I still don't understand why so many of you are critical of environmentalists. What's wrong with being concerned about our natural environment.
There are just as many 'wacky' religious Christian fundamentalists and 'wacky' corrupt businesspeople as there are 'wacky' environmentalist. Why pick on them?
J. Gordon Edwards (1919-2004) was an entomologist mountain climber, an author, and park ranger. Edwards was professor, and later emeritus professor of Biology, San Jose State University. He died on July 19 of a heart attack while hiking up Divide Mountain with his wife, Alice. He was 84.
I believe that you are conflating two things:
What's wrong with being concerned about our natural environment.
Absolutely nothing. Many Conservatives care a great deal about the environment. Land management is just good sense. Hunters care about wildlife. Christians are called to be good stewards of the earth. The reasons why Conservatives care about our environment are many.
I still don't understand why so many of you are critical of environmentalists.
Ah! You see, every environmentalist I've ever met has been a Marxist who cares less about the environment than I do. What they care about is the destruction of western values, the elimination of industrial capitalism, and the ruin of Christianity. I don't have any tolerance for people like that.
More people will eat, too, if it is used against food pests, like the Medfly.
he Mediterranean fruit fly, or medfly, is one of the world's most destructive farm pests. It lays its eggs in fruit and vegetables, causing them to rot, larvae-infested on the ground. The medfly has menaced Latin America's fruit industry since its invasion early this century, depriving countries of food supplies and valuable export opportunities. The foremost victims have been small farmers, rural workers and the natural environment.
Because their very actions hurt humans. They use distorted and false data to back their claims. They "take" private property in the name of thje enviroment. They have sent people to prison for covering a hole on their own land. Look at what the false hysteria on DDT has caused.
The MSM and our teachers have preached this false environmental gospel for a couple of generations now. Look at the false premise of man-caused global warming. The KYOTO treaty is nothing more than a scam to take money from the American taxpayer.
I disagree. Environmentalists want to eliminate the whole human race.
I always thought this was a perfect example of the "Road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions".
Excellent links! This article (and the ones you linked) illuminate all the naked hypocrisy of the leftists' usual hysteria about eeeeevil corporatism. I read "Silent Spring" as a teenager, and it shaped (cough) er, warped my views for years.
Sometimes, I think, for some of these "true believers", you have to do an intervention, sort of like rescuing them from a cult, to get them thinking clearly again.
I disagree. I think Dr. Carson was guilty only of thinking about one thing at a time, and like most excessive environmentalists, never considered the impact of her work outside of one very specific goal. Single-mindedness seems to go hand in hand with fanaticism. The end result was the same.
IMHO, the benefit of eliminating DDT was seen immediately by the Zero Population Growith people, who were more than happy to jump on that particular bandwagon.
I disagree. I think Dr. Carson was guilty only of thinking about one thing at a time, and like most excessive environmentalists, never considered the impact of her work outside of one very specific goal. Single-mindedness seems to go hand in hand with fanaticism. The end result was the same.
IMHO, the benefit of eliminating DDT was seen immediately by the Zero Population Growth people, who were more than happy to jump on that particular bandwagon.
The Schadenfreude of it all...
No DDT=malaria
No DDT=West Nile
West Nile = millions of dead birds...
She caused human deaths and deaths of the birds she wanted to protect.
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