A Voice in the Wilderness

Abstract

Fairly early on, the potential harmful effects of pesticide use was brought to the attention of a very small, select group of scientists. As far back as 1938, at an entomology conference held in Berlin, Germany, A. J. Nicholson presented a paper on the indirect effects of pesticides.¹ As might be expected, the few farm workers who sprayed pesticides did so without knowledge of the potential harmful effects on their own health. Without necessary protection of their skin and respiratory systems, the farm workers could be poisoned due to their heavy and continuous exposure to pesticides. But the number of victims reported when an incident was first noted was largely overlooked. Pesticide use at the time was certainly not widespread enough to be noteworthy, nor its effects statistically significant. Later, following the war, in 1945, an article in the Atlantic Monthly written by V. B. Wiggles-worth raised some serious questions about the use of DDT and its possible effects on the balance of nature.² As far as anyone was able to determine, the article had little or no effect upon the public or the developing chemical industry.