The Silent killer
T he pesticide threat first emerged in the West, the us in particular. In the early 1930s, the Dutch elm disease spread across the us. A fungus disease spread by beetles, it proved fatal to trees, blocking their water-conducting vessels. In 1954, us farmers began spraying ddt to kill the beetles in a bid to curb the disease. But the pesticide soon affected robins, killing thousands of birds.
Then, in 1963, came Silent Spring , a landmark book by environmentalist Rachel Carson, which detailed how increased pesticide use affected bird population in the us , sometimes wiping out entire population and even species. Her emotive assessment of the situation
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