Editing Silent Spring (section)

===Debate over environmentalism and DDT restrictions===
Carson has been targeted by some organizations opposed to the environmental movement, including [[Roger Bate]] of the pro-DDT advocacy group [[Africa Fighting Malaria]] and the libertarian [[think tank]] [[Competitive Enterprise Institute]] (CEI); these sources oppose restrictions on DDT, attribute large numbers of deaths to such restrictions, and argue that Carson was responsible for them.<ref name="Erik"/><ref name="Slate"/><ref>{{harvnb|Lytle|2007|p=217}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Baum|first=Rudy M.|date=June 4, 2007|title=Rachel Carson|journal=Chemical and Engineering News|volume=85|issue=23|page=5|url=http://pubs.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/cen/85/i23/html/8523editor.html}}</ref> These arguments have been dismissed as "outrageous" by former [[World Health Organization]] scientist Socrates Litsios. May Berenbaum, [[University of Illinois]] entomologist, says, "to blame environmentalists who oppose DDT for more deaths than Hitler is worse than irresponsible".<ref name="salon">{{cite news |first=Kirsten |last=Weir |title=Rachel Carson's birthday bashing |url=http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/06/29/rachel_carson/ |work=Salon.com |date=June 29, 2007 |access-date=July 1, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415165815/http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/06/29/rachel_carson/ |archive-date=April 15, 2008 }}</ref> Investigative journalist Adam Sarvana and others characterize this notion as a "myth" promoted principally by Bate.<ref name="NRNS">{{cite news|url=http://www.nrns.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51:bate-and-switch-how-a-free-market-magician-manipulated-two-decades-of-environmental-science-|title=Bate and Switch: How a free-market magician manipulated two decades of environmental science|last=Sarvana|first=Adam|date=May 28, 2009|publisher=Natural Resources New Service|access-date=June 2, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524144406/http://www.nrns.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51%3Abate-and-switch-how-a-free-market-magician-manipulated-two-decades-of-environmental-science-|archive-date=May 24, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Guts">{{cite book|last=Gutstein|first=Donald|title=Not a Conspiracy Theory: How Business Propaganda Hijacks Democracy|publisher=Key Porter Books|date= 2009|isbn=978-1-55470-191-9}}. Relevant excerpt at {{cite magazine |url=https://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2010/01/22/DDTPropaganda/ |title=Inside the DDT Propaganda Machine |last=Gutstein |first=Donald |date=January 22, 2010 |magazine=The Tyee |access-date=January 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100125172424/http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2010/01/22/DDTPropaganda/ |archive-date=January 25, 2010 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

In the 1990s and 2000s, campaigns against the book intensified, in part due to efforts by the [[tobacco industry]] to cast larger doubt on science-driven policy as a way of contesting bans on smoking.<ref name="quig"/><ref name="Erik">{{harvnb|Oreskes|Conway|2010|p=217}}</ref> In 2009, the heavily corporate-funded<ref>{{cite news|last1=Eilperin|first1=Juliet|title=Anatomy of a Washington dinner: Who funds the Competitive Enterprise Institute?|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/06/20/anatomy-of-a-washington-dinner-who-funds-the-competitive-enterprise-institute/|access-date=25 September 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 20, 2013}}</ref><ref name="Guardian 2015">{{cite news |last1=Goldenberg|first1=Suzanne|last2=Bengtsson|first2=Helena|title=Secretive donors gave US climate denial groups $125m over three years|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/09/secretive-donors-gave-us-climate-denial-groups-125m-over-three-years|access-date=30 November 2016|work=The Guardian|date=June 9, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/23/AR2006052301305_pf.html |title=The Tempest |work=Washingtonpost.com |date=2006-05-23 |access-date=2015-03-11}}</ref> CEI set up a website falsely blaming Carson for deaths to malaria. This triggered a point-by-point rebuttal by biographer William Souder, who reviewed the distortions used by campaigners against ''Silent Spring''.<ref name="Erik"/><ref name="Slate">{{cite news |last= Souder |first= William |date= Sep 4, 2012 |title= Rachel Carson Didn't Kill Millions of Africans |url= http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/09/silent_spring_turns_50_biographer_william_souder_clears_up_myths_about_rachel_carson_.html |newspaper= Slate |access-date= March 30, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140422025120/http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/09/silent_spring_turns_50_biographer_william_souder_clears_up_myths_about_rachel_carson_.html |archive-date= April 22, 2014 |url-status= live |df= mdy-all }}</ref>

A 2012 review article in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' by Rob Dunn<ref name="dunn_2012">{{cite journal |author=Dunn |first=R. |year=2012 |title=In retrospect: Silent Spring |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=485 |issue=7400 |pages=578–579 |bibcode=2012Natur.485..578D |doi=10.1038/485578a |doi-access=free}}</ref> commemorating the 50th anniversary of ''Silent Spring'' and summarizing the progressive environmental-policy changes made since then, prompted a response in a letter written by [[Anthony Trewavas]] and co-signed by 10 others, including [[Chris J. Leaver|Christopher Leaver]], [[Bruce Ames]] and [[Peter Lachmann]], who quote estimates of 60 to 80 million deaths "as a result of misguided fears based on poorly understood evidence".<ref name="trewavas_2012">{{cite journal | last1=Trewavas |first1=Anthony|author1-link = Anthony Trewavas|first2=Chris J.|last2=Leaver|author2-link=Chris J. Leaver|first3=Bruce|last3=Ames|author3-link=Bruce Ames|last4=Lachmann|first4=Peter|author4-link=Peter Lachmann|last5=Tren|first5=R.|last6=Miller|first6=Henry|author6-link=Henry I. Miller | display-authors = et al | year = 2012 | title = Environment: Carson no 'beacon of reason' on DDT | journal = [[Nature (journal)|Nature]] | volume = 486 | issue = 7404 | page = 473 | doi = 10.1038/486473a | bibcode = 2012Natur.486..473T | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Biographer Hamilton Lytle believes these estimates are unrealistic, even if Carson can be "blamed" for worldwide DDT policies.<ref>{{harvnb|Lytle|2007|pp=220–228}}</ref> [[John Quiggin]] and Tim Lambert wrote, "the most striking feature of the claim against Carson is the ease with which it can be refuted". DDT was never banned for anti-malarial use, and its ban for agricultural use in the United States in 1972 did not apply outside the US nor to anti-malaria spraying.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eac.int/health/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=95%3Aclassification-system&catid=15%3Adiseases&Itemid=32 |title=Malaria Prevention and Control |publisher=East African Community Health |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150108233412/http://www.eac.int/health/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=95%3Aclassification-system&catid=15%3Adiseases&Itemid=32 |archive-date=2015-01-08 }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Oreskes|Conway|2010|p=226}}</ref> The international treaty that banned most uses of DDT and other organochlorine pesticides{{mdash}}the 2001 [[Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants]] (which became effective in 2004){{mdash}}included an exemption for the use of DDT for malaria control until affordable substitutes could be found.<ref name="quig"/> Mass outdoor spraying of DDT was abandoned in poor countries subject to malaria, such as Sri Lanka, in the 1970s and 1980s; this was not because of government prohibitions but because the DDT had lost its ability to kill the mosquitoes.<ref name="quig">{{cite journal |last1=Quiggin |first1=John |last2=Lambert |first2=Tim |date=24 May 2008 |title=Rehabilitating Carson |url=http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2008/05/rehabilitatingcarson/ |url-status=live |journal=Prospect |issue=146 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512125536/http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2008/05/rehabilitatingcarson/ |archive-date=12 May 2012 |access-date=17 March 2014 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> Because of insects' very short breeding cycle and large number of offspring, the most resistant insects survive and pass on their genetic traits to their offspring, which replace the pesticide-slain insects relatively rapidly. Agricultural spraying of pesticides produces [[pesticide resistance]] in seven to ten years.<ref>{{harvnb|Oreskes|Conway|2010|pp=223–224}}</ref>

Some experts have said that restrictions placed on the agricultural use of DDT have increased its effectiveness for malaria control. According to pro-DDT advocate [[Amir Attaran]], the result of the (activated in 2004) [[Stockholm Convention]] banning DDT's use in agriculture "is arguably better than the status quo&nbsp;...&nbsp;For the first time, there is now an insecticide which is restricted to vector control only, meaning that the selection of resistant mosquitoes will be slower than before."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome malaria.org - BlueHost.com |url=http://www.malaria.org/DDTpage.html |access-date=2023-07-02 |website=www.malaria.org}}</ref>