The history of an important federal report on U.S. pesticide policy shows how it was influenced by publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and concurrent public and political reaction to the book. The case provides interesting examples of communication among scientists, government policy makers, politicians, federal agencies, and industry.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Aroused spring
. 1963. Time, 24 May, 81.
2.
Boffey, P. M.
1995. The brain bank of American: An inquiry into the politics of science. New York: McGraw-Hill.
3.
Briggs, S. A.1990. Silent Spring: The view from 1990. The Ecologist20 (2): 54-60.
4.
Brooks, P.
1972. The house of life: Rachel Carson at work. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
5.
Divine, R. A.
1993. The Sputnik challenge: Eisenhower's response to the Soviet satellite. New York: Oxford University Press.
6.
Dunlap, T. R.
1981. DDT: Scientists, citizens, and public policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
7.
Freeman, M.
, ed. 1995. Always, Rachel: The letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman, 1952-1964. Boston: Beacon.
8.
Graham, F. Jr.
1970. Since Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
9.
Hanson, D.1996. Regulation after Delaney: New health-based standard replaces controversial clause dealing with cancer-causing pesticides in foods. Chemical & Engineering News74: 38-39.
10.
Hynes, H. P.
1989. The recurring Silent Spring. New York: Pergamon.
11.
Jasanoff, S.
1990. The fifth branch: Science advisers as policymakers. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
12.
Kistiakowsky, G. B.
1976. A scientist at the White House: The private diary of President Eisenhower's special assistant for science and technology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
13.
Lear, L. J.1992. Bombshell in Beltsville: The USDA and the challenge of Silent Spring. Agricultural History66 (2): 151-170.
14.
Library of Congress, Legislative Reference Service, Science Policy Research Division
. 1967. Office of Science and Technology, a report prepared for the Military Operations Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations, U.S. House of Representatives, 90th Cong., 1st sess.Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
15.
Lutts, R. H.1985. Chemical fallout: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, radioactive fallout, and the environmental movement. Environmental Review9 (3): 211-225.
16.
Pesticide danger may exceed that of fallout, Wiesner says
. 1963. The New York Times, 17 May, 13.
17.
President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC)
. 1963. Use of Pesticides, a Report of the President's Science Advisory Committee. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
18.
Primack, J.
, and F. von Hippel. 1974. Advice and dissent: Scientists in the political arena. New York: Basic Books.
19.
The public needs to be alarmed
. 1963. Consumer Reports, 28 July, 321-327.
20.
Schlesinger, A. M. Jr.
1965. A thousand days: John F. Kennedy in the White House. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
21.
U.S. Senate, Committee on Government Operations
. 1964a. Interagency Coordination in Environmental Hazards (Pesticides), Hearings before the Subcommittee on Reorganization and International Organizations of the Committee on Government Operations, part 1 (hearings on 16, 22, and 23 May and 25 June 1963), 88th Cong., 1st sess.Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
22.
U.S. Senate, Committee on Government Operations
. 1964b. Interagency Coordination in Environmental Hazards (Pesticides), Hearings before the Subcommittee on Reorganization and International Organizations of the Committee on Government Operations, part 3 (hearings on 18 and 23 July 1963), 88th Cong., 1st sess.Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
23.
U.S. Senate, Committee on Government Operations
. 1964c. Interagency Coordination in Environmental Hazards (Pesticides), Hearings before the Subcommittee on Reorganization and International Organizations of the Committee on Government Operations, part 4 (hearings on 20-21 August 1963), 88th Cong., 1st sess.Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
24.
U.S. Senate, Committee on Government Operations
. 1965. Interagency Coordination in Environmental Hazards (Pesticides), Hearings before the Subcommittee on Reorganization and International Organizations of the Committee on Government Operations, appendix I-V to part 1, 88th Cong., 2nd sess.Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
25.
Wang, Z. 1994. American science and the cold war: The rise of the US President's Science Advisory Committee. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara.
26.
Wiesner, J.
1965. John F. Kennedy: A remembrance. In Where science and politics meet, 3-12. New York: McGraw-Hill.
