Interviewer: What made Rachel Carson so controversial in the scientific world? Musil: There are several reasons Rachel Carson was considered controversial when her work on the dangers of pesticides, such as DDT, came out in 1962. The main opposition and, hence, controversy, was from the manufacturers of such chemicals such as the Velsicol Corporation of Michigan which threatened lawsuits if she went ahead with publication, the DuPont corporation, the American Chemical Society, and some government and corporateaffiliated scientists who believed in the efficacy of DDT and whose reputations were made by supporting it. DDT and other pesticides were widely used, quite profitable, and the effects on human health somewhat difficult and complicated to establish. Carson was also attacked because she was a woman and called a spinster, and other sexist slurs. She also had not been able to finish her Ph.D in biology from Johns Hopkins University during the Depression (she had a Masters degree and also studied at the Woods Hole Biological Laboratory on Cape Cod) for financial reasons, family obligations, and the difficulty of doing her work while holding and commuting to three part-time jobs as an adjunct professor and research assistant. There were also few academic job opening at that time and virtually none for women. So she found a job as a government scientist and writer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But she was attacked for lack of academic credentials and because she was an extremely popular and bestselling nature author. Carson was also attacked because her work and thesis were new, cutting-edge, and had been ignored by many mainstream scientists. That is she was among the first to write widely about the connection between environmental exposures and the onset of cancer and other illnesses. Almost all scientists and writers who first discover or
make popular new scientific findings or theories that challenge
traditional orthodoxy are attacked. Interviewer: Before Rachel Carson, what was the role of DDT in the American household? DDT and other pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides were widely used in American households after WW II as many Americans moved for the first time to the suburbs and their own homes. The popularity of such use was widely encouraged by manufacturers who wished to maintain the huge sales they had made during the war to use DDT, for example, to prevent typhus and malaria among American GIs and Marines in Italy and the Pacific. But the worst problem before Silent Spring was widespread spraying of DDT and other pesticides from airplanes and by trucks throughout entire neighborhoods and regions to eliminate mosquitoes, gypsy moths, fire ants, and more. Thus large numbers of Americans and wildlife were needlessly exposed. Interviewer: How did Rachel Carson impact the environmental movement? Did it begin because of her work? Musil: Rachel Carson inspired the environmental movement, the Kennedy Administration, and the public with the beauty of her writing and the meticulous attention to detail and scientific research that undergirded her work. She also inspired organizations and individuals in the movement by her bravery under attack, her steady demeanor, and her courage in writing and testifying while dying of breast cancer. A number of major organizations gave her awards including the Wilderness Society, Defenders of Wildlife, the Audubon Society, Sierra Club and others. Rachel Carson did not begin the environmental movement as I show at some length in my book, Rachel Carson and Her Sisters: Extraordinary Women Who Have Shaped Americas Environment (Rutgers University Press, 2014). Women warned about the destruction of birds, wrote popular books about why and how to
protect them, and were active in national environmental campaigns
for 2-3 generations before Carson. Others also worked on the dangers of chemicals to human health and on scientific environmental problems like air pollution, cancer from certain exposures, and more. When Carson wrote she worked with and relied on the support and information from many environmental organizations. What Carson did that was new and unique was to combine effectively the dangers to wildlife and humans from environmental pollution and degradation and to reach a huge audience with bestselling books. Thus she helped move the environment movement (then mainly known as the conservation movement) to new, more popular heights and to have groups focus on threats to people as well as animals and ecosystems. Interviewer: Would the impacts of Rachel Carsons work have been different had she been a male scientist? Musil: Perhaps. There were a number of colleagues and friends of Rachels who warned about DDT and more such as Clarence Cottam, Roger Tory Peterson, and others. They were not as controversial or attacked in the same way. But they were not as visible and known as the author of the most important and popular book against pesticides. Once in the limelight, Carsons enemies used anything they could to try to attack and discredit her, including gender. Interviewer: What was the impact of President Kennedys report on pesticides? Musil: JFKs report was stimulated in part by Carsons book as he indicated in a press conference. But when it was released and concluded that pesticides were harmful to human health and being used excessively, she was vindicated. Major TV reports, such as CBS Reports with Eric Sevareid, specifically made that point and further ensured Carsons influence and reputation.
Interviewer: Today, how are environmentalist groups continuing
Rachel Carson's legacy? Musil: In many ways. Most directly, many groups work to get rid of pesticides and other harmful and toxic substances. These include the Rachel Carson Council, the Environmental Working Group, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and others. But since Rachel saw issues as connected and was aware early on of problems like global warming, nuclear weapons, power and wastes and overpopulation, groups that tackle these issues carry on her legacy, too. Some examples include the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Defense Fund, and many others. Interviewer: How was Carson considered a leader in this environmental movement? Musil: Rachel was given awards many times by major environmental groups at the time like the Audubon Society, Wilderness Society, National Wildlife Federation and so on. She was good friends with the leaders of many groups who looked to her leadership, among them David Brower, then head of the Sierra Club. But Rachel was a leader in policy and government, too, working closely with the Secretary of the Interior under Kennedy, Stuart Udall, and on a number of Kennedy Administration Task Forces and groups. Because she was a scientist and a very popular author she had wide respect and was better known than other leaders.