Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

An eye-opener from Natalie Sirkin that might well be titled "How Environmentalists Facilitated Malaria Among the Poor In Africa." The summer of 1971 brought the Sirkins and the gypsy-moth infestation to Sherman and Connecticut. Environmental organizations told us not to spray. In those days, we were all environmentalists. We held out till we could bear it no longer. A few days later, even they gave up. In those days we still could have had DDT. The EPA public hearing which lasted eight months was still in progress. Its decision by Hearing Examiner Sweeney would vindicate DDT completely, but soon after EPA William Ruckelshaus would overrule Sweeney’s decision. Science could help, said Ruckelshaus , but this was a political decision, which put him in charge. He and Rachel Carson were the sources for the bad on DDT. Rachel Carson , nine years earlier, had started it all. Her book started the environmental movement. Pesticides were the problem, especially DDT, and her book, Si...