In 1943, DDT was introduced as an agricultural and public health pesticide.
It was considered a miracle compound. It saved millions of lives from malaria. It protected crops from devastating insect damage. The scientist who developed it, Paul Müller, won the Nobel Prize in 1948.
The case for DDT was overwhelming. Undeniable. Backed by the best science of its era. Supported by the US government. Essential to food security and human health.
Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962.
She documented DDT's accumulation in the food chain: biomagnification, concentrating in fatty tissue, reaching toxic levels in top predators, thinning the eggshells of birds of prey.
The response to Carson was identical to the response to glyphosate critics today.
She was called unscientific, hysterical, and anti-progress. The chemical industry funded counter-campaigns. Scientists with industry ties wrote rebuttal papers. The argument was made, explicitly, that banning DDT would cause famine and disease.
DDT was banned in the US in 1972. In most of the world subsequently.
Agriculture continued.
Bald eagles recovered.
Falcons returned.
Breast milk became measurably cleaner.
No famine occurred.
The compound declared essential to human civilisation was removed from the food system and the food system kept working.
The pattern is sixty years old.
The script for defending glyphosate was written when DDT was under attack.
Word for word.
Interest for interest.
We already know how this ends.
We are at the Silent Spring moment for glyphosate.
The question is how long it takes us to act on it this time.
🚨IMMEDIATE RELEASE🚨
I Am Being Threatened For Protecting Children...
If you would like to read both letters yourself, you can do so here:
https://t.co/2n8YmJ9uRu
Muhammad Ali: ”No intelligent White person want Black boys and Black girls marrying their White sons and daughters. Pigeons want to be with pigeons. They don't have intelligence, but yet they stay together. We should have more intelligence than them, right? Every intelligent person wants his child to look like him. Who wanna kill their race? You a hater of your people if you don't want to stay who you are. It's nature to want to be with your own.”
Friendly reminder that with the Ole Miss win tonight, Lane Kiffin is owed a $500k performance bonus. Paid for, solely by LSU.
College Football is a hilarious sport
Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss to go to a school that has a chance to win championships... giving up on a team that can.... *checks notes* win the championship.
1) Kiffin is a total clown
2) Don't know how you can't be rooting for Ole Miss to win it all at this point