Rachel Carson's Silent Spring

Question 1

When was DDT banned

Answer 1

1972

Question 2

When was the EPA created

Answer 2

1970

Question 3

Name 3 pesticides aside from DDT that have been banned and when

Answer 3

Aldrin 1974

Dieldrin 1974

Methyl bromide 1991

Question 4

What are the rules on restricted use pesticides

Answer 4

Restricted use pesticides could be used only “under direct supervision of a certified applicator.” However, the law allowed for delegation to any competent person under the supervision of a certified applicator

Question 5

How was the restricted pesticide rule weakened

Answer 5

1975 amendment further relaxed the restrictions by forbidding the EPA from testing “an applicator’s knowledge of a pesticide’s potential to injure health or the environment

Question 6

How did US pesticide use increase between 1947 and 1960

Answer 6

1947 and 1960, the output of pesticides in the U.S. jumped from 1.24 to 6.37 million pounds

Question 7

What were Carson’s arguments for why the issue with pesticides were not studied

Answer 7

Age of specialists who do not co-operate and don’t see the wider picture

Profits would be threatened

Question 8

What did the head of the Agriculture Department’s Bureau of Entomology, C. V. Riley say in 1891 about pesticides

Answer 8

how utterly groundless are any fears of injury” from sprayed produce.

Question 9

What law was passed in several states in the late 1800s concerning pesticide use

Answer 9

Requirements that all farmers either spray their crops or pay to have it done by the state- argued that farmers who didn’t spray imposed financial hardship on their spraying neighbours

Question 10

How were sprays altered to make themselves more effective

Answer 10

By adding lead arsenate to make them adhere better

Question 11

What was the issue with early pesticide toxicology studies

Answer 11

They generally didn’t take build up into account, and only how much would make someone ill from eating the fruit/ vegetable

Question 12

Why was Carson so worried about DDT compared to other pesticides

Answer 12

Due to its longevity that allowed massive build up in the food chains

Question 13

Why was Carson worried about organo-phosphates

Answer 13

They were immensely toxic, and often had their basis in WW1

Question 14

What were the arguments against banning DDT

Answer 14

Profits would be affected

Farmers would move to more toxic pesticides (organo-phosphates)

Worried about malaria and mosquito resurgence

Question 15

What were the effects of banning DDT

Answer 15

Bird and mammal populations increased

Question 16

How much could DDT build up in an orchard if it is sprayed multiple times

Answer 16

30-50 pounds per acre

Question 17

How much DDT was considered harmless per acre

Answer 17

1 pound per acre

Question 18

How many copies did Silent Spring sell before 1964

Answer 18

Nearly a million

Question 19

Why was silent spring so effective

Answer 19

Written in an easy to understand way that introduced complex topics to average people

Gave a face to the movement

Question 20

How did the increase in lawns affect the environment, and why was there such a large increase

Answer 20

Increase due to the automobile industry facilitating suburban living

Eurasian grasses such as Kentucky Bluegrass (Poa pratensis) that grew well only if regularly watered and mowed. Lawns needed regular applications of powerful chemicals to kill pests

Question 21

How much was the world’s cultivated area increase between 1900-1990 and how did this compare to energy use

Answer 21

world’s cultivated area increased by one-third between 1900 and 1990

eightyfold increase in energy inputs

Question 22

How did the production of fertilisers increase in the 1900s

Answer 22

Production of fertilisers rose exponentially, doubling in the 1960s and doubling again in the 1970

Question 23

How much fertiliser ended up in bodies of water and what was the effect of this

Answer 23

Over half of the fertilisers applied to fields ended up in lakes and coastal waters, rather than being taken up by the crops for which they were intended. There, they stimulated the growth of algae blooms that absorbed oxygen from the water, leaving too little for fish and other marine animals to survive

Question 24

Why were lead and arsenic pesticides so bad

Answer 24

Entirely in-discriminatory to pests

Question 25

How did the output of synthetic pesticides grow in the US between 1947 and 1960

Answer 25

117,500 kilograms in 1947

289 million kilograms in 1960

Question 26

How did US pesticide use increase between 1964 and 1982, and how did this compare to cultivated land

Answer 26

Between 1964 and 1982, pesticide use increased by 170 percent

cultivated acreage stayed the same