How to Sell a Poison
The Rise, Fall, and Toxic Return of DDT
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- $22.99
Publisher Description
The story of an infamous poison that left toxic bodies and decimated wildlife in its wake is also a cautionary tale about how corporations stoke the flames of science denialism for profit.
The chemical compound DDT first earned fame during World War II by wiping out insects that caused disease and boosting Allied forces to victory. Americans granted it a hero’s homecoming, spraying it on everything from crops and livestock to cupboards and curtains. Then, in 1972, it was banned in the US. But decades after that, a cry arose to demand its return.
This is the sweeping narrative of generations of Americans who struggled to make sense of the notorious chemical’s risks and benefits. Historian Elena Conis follows DDT from postwar farms, factories, and suburban enclaves to the floors of Congress and tony social clubs, where industry barons met with Madison Avenue brain trusts to figure out how to sell the idea that a little poison in our food and bodies was nothing to worry about.
In an age of spreading misinformation on issues including pesticides, vaccines, and climate change, Conis shows that we need new ways of communicating about science—as a constantly evolving discipline, not an immutable collection of facts—before it’s too late.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historian Conis (Vaccine Nation) offers a thorough history of the U.S. government's use of the chemical insecticide DDT. Swiss chemist Victor Froelicher is credited as breaking it into the U.S. market, having brought his research on a new pest-killing compound called dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane to the USDA in 1941. The U.S. military was quick to implement its use in the Pacific, where dengue fever, malaria, and typhus were running rampant among U.S. troops. After the war, DDT was floated as a potential solution to polio stateside, resulting in the use of planes to dust entire cities with the chemical. Though DDT proved to be ineffective at curtailing polio, dusting continued as a means of eliminating crop pests. Though many credit environmentalist Rachel Carson as having spearheaded anti-DDT efforts, Conis goes beyond that narrative to highlight the roles some less celebrated figures played: in 1957, for example, a lawsuit was filed by the Committee Against Mass Poisoning, a group of concerned citizens on Long Island. This lawsuit, led by organic farmer Marjorie Spock, was crucial in Carson's writing of the 1962 bestseller Silent Spring, and the EPA's ban of DDT followed in 1972. Conis's account is impressively researched, and her narrative carefully constructed. This is a worthy contribution to environmental history.
