The book "Silent Spring" is 50 years old

Rachel Carson's book caused a second thought about the environmental damage of chemical fertilizers, despite the collective struggle of the manufacturers. Unfortunately, achievements fade

A few days ago I saw News about a company from the USA that is going to produce and distribute a version of "Agent Orange""Agent Orange, the same toxic pesticide that was used by the army in Vietnam. The initial purpose of the substance was to destroy vegetation, but over the years it became clear that it had a destructive effect not only on plants but also on animals and humans.
The company is going to distribute corn seeds that have been "engineered" so that it will be possible to continue growing corn in areas affected by "superweeds". These seeds were engineered to resist the same poison (Agent Orange) so that the poison could be used in corn fields without harming the corn. The manufacturing company will profit twice: once from the sale of the genetically engineered corn seeds and once from the sale of the herbicide "Agent Orange" for use in the fields.
Readers are invited to read the Prime Minister's news and decide how safe it is to use the genetically engineered seeds that will allow the use of the pesticide.

The news caused me a flash of memory ("déjà vu") of the situation that made Rachel Carson write "The Silent Spring". The book that changed our approach to the natural environment was first published in the US fifty years ago. The writer - Rachel Carson became a "celebrity" both loved and hated, loved by those who later became "green", and hated by chemical and poison manufacturers.

It is worth noting that the pesticide industry is unique in that it is the only one that produces poisons with the aim of releasing them into the natural environment in order to destroy animals and plants. The killers are supposed to "treat" the pests, but only a small amount of the dispersed substances reach their goal, most of the dispersed poisons are released into the ground, water and air and some remain active for many years, sometimes forever.

The author presented a dead environment due to the use of insecticides and herbicides, rivers without fish, forests without butterflies and birds, toxic soils and above all harm to people. Without bias and without fear, Carson explained to the American public and the entire world the environmental damage caused by the toxic pesticides that for many days penetrated all living systems and harmed everyone, including people.

The book that immediately became a bestseller caused a shock among the reading public. Companies that were engaged in the production of toxic pesticides tried to present it as vanity and ignore the necessary conclusions. Politicians who were trying to be popular with their constituents led to a "presidential survey" of the poisons, a survey that immediately resulted in the amendment of about forty regulations that regulate the production and use of insecticides and herbicides.

Perhaps the most important impact of the book was the recognition that the pesticide industry is willing to ignore the damage to the environment and health in order to achieve the most profits, Carson showed how the industry and its researchers avoided revealing to the public who use the pesticides the danger of the pesticides in order not to harm the revenues. 'Silent Spring' showed how human activity has a negative impact on a global scale.

The industry's reaction to the book was predictable: threats of lawsuits, but the scientific basis for writing the book was so solid that no flaw could be found in Carson's assertions. The manufacturers of the poisons spent huge sums on a public relations campaign, most of which was a vicious attack on the author, but the reality in which flocks of birds disappear and river water becomes toxic slapped the manufacturers in the face and resulted in the tightening and improvement of supervision over the manufacturers of insecticides and herbicides.

The question arises, what are those "killers"? Pesticides are chemicals that are produced and designed to destroy insects, fungi, bacteria, viruses, rodents, birds, and weeds, anyone and anything that is considered harmful. When "Silent Spring" was published in 1962, the most common pesticides were: organic compounds of chlorine and phosphorus and especially D.D.T.
As a result of the movement created by the book, most of the poisons were banned (in the Stockholm Convention), some of them were allowed limited use, for example the use of DDT is allowed in malaria-stricken areas. This permission is debatable since it is known that D.D.T. An effect on the nervous system (of mammals) and a devastating and severe effect on all living systems in the natural environment.

The main problem with the use of HRM pesticides is their "survival" and the fact that as they go up the food chain their toxic concentration increases, for example: plankton concentrates DDT in its body. A thousand times its concentration in water. Fish that eat plankton increase the concentration, dolphins and people who eat fish reach much higher concentrations, which means that the super-carnivores concentrate toxins in their bodies in increasingly higher concentrations and quantities. Since the human being is a super carnivore, it is clear that his body will have the highest concentration of toxins. Even after the pesticides have done their job and destroyed the pests, they remain and continue to poison all natural systems for a long time.

Like D.D.T. In the same way, many other pesticides are concentrated in the fat, meaning that cows that ate grass sprayed with a pesticide will concentrate it in the fat cells and thus the poison will reach the milk and its products, and through mothers who drank milk the poison will reach lactating calves.

Pesticides have a negative effect on people and the environment: they are neurotoxins, they monitor hormonal activity that causes infertility. They affect the ability to study, cause types of cancer and when combined with other chemicals their negative effect intensifies and increases dozens of times.

All of the above is a cause for deep concern since in developing countries, Africa and parts of Asia, the use of these poisons is steadily increasing in quantities of millions of tons. In some countries, the use of pesticides (which were prohibited in most developed countries) was banned only in recent years.
And yet in agricultural farms and warehouses there are huge amounts of pesticides, including those whose expiration date has passed, which makes them many times more dangerous. Even when there are countries where regulations are fixed for the control of pesticides, the existence of over 500 pesticides that are distributed under thousands of commercial names, which makes the control of the distribution of poisons an impossible task.
As part of the inspection, residues of toxic pesticides in food products are also tested, but again in many countries only products destined for export pass the tests so that produce for the local markets can be saturated with toxins. In many cases, the supervision is in the hands of the producers, and despite the growing public awareness, it turns out that the producers have a greater interest in increasing profits than in the health of the public and its environment.

Since there remain stockpiles of pesticides whose use is prohibited, there are those who "succeed" in selling the prohibited substances to unsuspecting farmers in developing countries under names that disguise the prohibited pesticide, in other cases "directing" the poison stockpiles to garbage sites in Africa and thus poisoning the continent.

It can be said that since the appearance of "Silent Spring" in 1962, the Western world has progressed, and the use of pesticides is monitored and regulated for the benefit of the environment and its citrus, but in some cases the progress comes at the expense of the developing countries that "absorb" all the prohibited poisons. Companies sell the poison stocks in the warehouses, but more than that, transfer knowledge to production that "allows" developing countries to continue poisoning their environment, sometimes out of innocence and lack of understanding.
The results... more cancer cases are discovered in agricultural companies, more cases of infertility, more cases of nerve damage in an environment that was supposedly free of pesticides. Fortunately for the producers of the pesticides, it is difficult to trace the sources of the poison from the moment it is dispersed, so the producers and suppliers remain innocent.

Following the "Silent Spring" books were published such as "Our Stolen Future", "Life Downstream", books that repeatedly emphasize the risk of the irresponsible use of chemicals or poisons. Books that emphasize the moral and environmental crime of the wild distribution of pesticides, pesticides that poison the entire environment and at the end of the process kill everything!
If Rachel Carson were alive today, the "advances" in the use of pesticides would make her seep.

and another note, It's disturbing to think about the section in the Republican Party platform that calls for reining in the EPA, and reducing environmental regulations.