The Non-Pesticide Silent Spring

Abstract

This commentary was a result of John Cairns, Jr. witnessing the blocking of the US Senate resolution to honor Rachel Carson on what would have been her 100th birthday in 2007. When Carson s controversial book Silent Spring, was published in 1962, the public was outraged at the excessive use of pesticides endangering birds. As a result, the industry took some measures to reduce the risks, and some of the previously threatened and endangered species have made a remarkable recovery. However, both then and now, small birds are still threatened by a source that the general public is not acknowledging cats.