Rachel Carson Responsible for the Death of Millions of Defenseless Africans

Rachel Carson (1907-1964)

Rachel Carson is touted as being the “Mother of Environmentalism” for her work and lifetime at the forefront of environmental research (Lear, 1996).  She received her bachelor’s degree from the Pennsylvania College for Women and a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University.  Throughout her life, Carson wrote many books and pamphlets about nature as well as working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  She wrote many books but none made her as infamous as her book titled Silent Spring published in 1962.  This book is about the affects of modern agriculture, politics, and how it would potentially affect the natural world.  The book spoke directly to the chemical DDT and how it would kill many species of wildlife; specifically birds, leading to a spring where no birds sing, hence “silent spring”.  Her book suggested that DDT would climb through the trophic levels of the food chain and eventually to humans where she speculated that DDT would cause cancer in humans (Swartz, 2007).  Carson’s book was so powerful that it led to the eventual ban of DDT from the United States and other countries.  It is also suggested that Carson and her book led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (Farrah, 1992).  Did Carson’s work really save the lives of birds?  Was her research flawed?  Is she responsible for the deaths of millions of Africans?

DDT and Malaria

The world health organization states that in 2008, over 1 million people died worldwide from malaria with most of those being African children (WHO, 2010).  Malaria is caused by a parasite that is typically carried in infected mosquitoes.  This disease can be deadly to humans, particularly vulnerable populations, but it is also preventable (WHO, 2010).  DDT was the leading chemical used in the prevention of malaria in many African countries as well as the United States and many other countries (Swartz, 2007).  After Rachel Carson’s book and hard fought mitigation, DDT was banned from use.  After DDT was banned, deaths from malaria began to skyrocket (Swartz, 2007).  Rachel Carson’s book led to the eventual ban of DDT even though her data was shaky at best especially since DDT was deemed, by the EPA no less, to not be carcinogen in humans.  Now Malaria is killing a child in Africa every 45 seconds (WHO, 2010) and no one is making any changes in the use of DDT.  It is about time that we look past Carson’s work and do what we can to prevent the countless deaths of millions of Africans that Rachel Carson made possible.

The video bellow shows the amount that the ban of DDT has affected the lives of people around the world suffering from Malaria:

References:

Lear, L. (1996-2011). The life and legacy of rachel carson. Retrieved from www.rachelcarson.org

Farrah, R. (1992). The guardian: origins of the EPA . Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/history/publications/print/origins.html

World Health Organization. (2010, April).Malaria. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/index.html

Swartz, A. (2007, September). Rachel carson, mass murderer? the creation of an anti-environmental myth. Extra!