[Terabitten]

But this time around, I was also struck by something that did not occur to me when I first read the book in the early 1980's. In her 297 pages, Rachel Carson never mentioned the fact that by the time she was writing, DDT was responsible for saving tens of millions of lives, perhaps hundreds of millions. DDT killed bald eagles because of its persistence in the environment.

Maybe you can help with this. I seem to recall reading that Rachel Carson's research had been well and thoroughly debunked - she'd cooked the numbers, or something similar. Am I right or just imagining things again?

[neverdem]

Maybe you can help with this. I seem to recall reading that Rachel Carson's research had been well and thoroughly debunked - she'd cooked the numbers, or something similar. Am I right or just imagining things again?

I'm no authority on Carson, and I can't tell you if she was completely debunked. I'm pretty sure they went from using DDT like it was candy to a total ban. After that raptors at the top of the food chain apparently had more eggs producing live chicks, but I'm no authority on the matter.

Too much environmental science has been politicized. I'm not sure if there are other better explanations of why eagle populations in particular recovered, but it seems to me they went from the sublime to ridiculous with the total ban of DDT and mosquito borne diseases.