In 1962, a popular naturalist—the mother of the modern environmental movement—wrote a book that led to the ban of one particular pesticide. The prohibition was hailed by environmental activists but feared by public health officials. Their fears were well founded; as a consequence of the ban, tens of millions of children died needlessly.
If this is going to be a screed about Rachel Carson is actually a mass murderer, I'm going to put this book, leave it a terrible review, return all others by this author I own, and never pick up another that he has or will published. DDT needed to be done away with, and if Carson hadn't rung the alarm bell either someone else would have or our environment would be in even worse shape than it is now. Plus, pest control isn't a one size fits all solution. There are other, safer options than going in with the mindset of kill everything (and not really succeed anyway; DDT was starting to become less effective even as Carson was raising awareness of its terrible effects because surviving organisms were resistant to it), which is not helpful in the long term. As has been pointed by other public health officials, nonprofits, and citizens, preventative measures such as better housing, better sanitation, and even bed nets can do more to prevent malaria more safely than indiscriminately spreading a dangerous poison.
