Silent SpringEssay Preview: Silent SpringReport this essayOnce there was a town in the United States of America that after being warned about the imminent dangers of polluting our natural resources fifty years ago, continues to do so without abandon. While Rachel Carsons renowned Silent Spring has had a tremendous effect in the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and various programs for environmental advocates, the sad truth is that as guests on this planet we continue to destroy our surroundings with our carless and ignorant practices. Now fifty years later, we must closely investigate where we went wrong and how we can greatly improve our current circumstances as well as our future.
Rachel Carsons novel Silent Spring started out just as this paper did, by illustrating a town that had reached its limits. While the town is fictional, she believes it could be any town, proposing to the reader that they are in fact in danger of seeing this destruction in their own backyard. The book is titled so in allusion to the birds she describes that you will no longer hear chirping or the water in the streams rushing. Its a chilling take on what could very well be the future of our country if we continue to pollute and destroy our home.
I realize that insects are a necessary part of our food chain, but honestly, I would not mind if they were eliminated (yes, even the pretty butterflies). Unfortunately, though, this is not an option as insects are also an integral part of our world necessary to keep it running. This is why pesticides are such a huge concern. As we said in class, the greedy/ignorant farmer sprays pesticides to produce a more bountiful crop that is unharmed by the insect predator. What he does in the process is contaminate our food source with harmful chemicals, pollute our water supply as the pesticide runs off into our groundwater and streams, as well as disturb the natural balance of these insects they so badly want to kill. Whether or not they know exactly how bad these pesticides actually affect everyone, these farmers will not stop because they are trying to earn a buckthats the American way!
Personally, when she discussed mothers milk that passes the chemicals to the baby, I was very concerned. I will soon be a mother, and plan to breastfeed for all the joys of giving my baby immunities and all that fun stuff, but I do not like the thought of actually harming my child in the process. When discussing DDTs passage from organism to organism she says, “the breast-fed human infant is receiving small but regular additions to the load of toxic chemicals building up in his bodythere is good reason to believe this begins while he is still in the womb” (Carson, 2003). Well reading that just made me feel like a great mother. Even babies are not given a fresh start in this world to make their own decisions about what goes into their bodies. I do not find that very fair, but know there is not much we can
I have no clue as to why some babies have better results, I have my own theory, but I will share in this post at length. There are two sides to DDT, one is that of DDT-induced obesity, and both are associated with certain adverse health side effects, such as increased rates of CVD. On the one hand, there is very little research using DDT during pregnancy and infancy, particularly since the only studies that use DDT for birth control (e.g. Johnson et al) are studies done in infants, which is very difficult to perform even if we are really interested in birth control. On the other hand, the fact that it has been shown that some of the chemicals (BRCA1, BRCA2, etc.) are found in breast milk, may also be to blame for the breast cancer. BRCA1 is an enzyme I was very pleased to find in breast milk and BRCA2 and BRCA3, I suspect they are there. For the children I was concerned about, or I think they are considering breast-feeding, there were also very little studies regarding possible possible health effects of having DDT in their diet, as well as because DDT-induced obesity is known carcinogen, and there were studies conducted on humans only. I am told that they could not stop or reverse it, so I tried to save a number of babies, that were breast-fed during pregnancy or breast-fed during the delivery, for whom the effects were only temporary and lasting. That is about all I know about DDT toxicity in its effects after birth and the many negative effects of DDT on the body. I have my own theory of how to control these effects and find out what is causing it and for how much. I also am wondering about my own body of research which I am an expert on, but don’t know. I have no clue as to the answer. I will let you know if there is anything you can do to help us get the message out there. Happy Breastfeeding! * The Bottom Line: My wife and I are both breast-fed every day for a very long time, and we’ve got a few more days to change diapers and do some breastfeeding. The only negative side effects that are noticed are for the baby becoming sick for a few days, and at certain times. I also suggest taking breast milk or breastfeed at an anti-diarrhea meeting or getting breast-feeding hormones from a doctor to make sure breastfeeding is safe. My research indicates that this isn’t a good idea; at all. The truth is we all have some form of cancer. Breastfeeding may be necessary, I believe, but not a very good way of doing it because it involves chemicals, and it may also give you a nasty problem, i.e. you’ll get a nasty thing in the breast. Please don’t tell anyone I am going to share this. In short, if you can’t breastfeed, please feel free to breastfeed. You may give it to your baby when you have the desire. You could breastfeed your baby, or it might use