2021年10月 / 马哥(Marlin)整理

11. Beyond the Dreams of the Borgias / 超出博尔吉亚家族的梦想

(部分节选 - 可能不完整)

Spraying is not the only threat of environmental contamination. Across the lifespan, humans are subjected to repeated exposures to chemicals, leading to a progressive buildup in the body. Most are unaware this is happening. Carson argues medicines and poisons have traditionally been respected as dangerous and in need of careful use. However, poisonous chemicals are commonly used in the home. In the kitchen much food has been exposed to DDT; washing and cooking does not negate the effects of the poison. Many lawn and garden products contain harmful chemicals, yet homeowners seem oblivious to the dangers.

Carson anticipates the reader's question, "Doesn't the government protect us?" She explains the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only regulates interstate commerce and the staff is small. Carson points out laboratory tests measure effects in highly controlled conditions. But in real life, the human being experiences a "piling up of chemicals from many different sources."

Carson's proposed solution is to stop tolerating the use of highly toxic chemicals. She suggests sufficiently staffing governmental agencies so they can adequately look out for the safety of the public. In addition, she calls for education of the public concerning the dangers of chemicals and research into alternatives.

The assortment of ‘helpful’ home products containing insecticide is vast, both for gardening and in the kitchen. It has become the norm to make use of such products, without a real awareness of their dangers. Fewer than fifteen people out of a hundred, according to a recent industrial film, read the warnings on their insecticide containers – which are often hidden in the fine print. This leads to the unwitting application of chemicals in the home that ought to be treated with much more caution. New attachments available for sale even allow you to spray chemicals straight from your garden hose, potentially contaminating water supplies.

The normalization of pesticide use – the sense that pesticides are just everyday simple tools that everyone uses – shows a lack of public education, but also a general acceptance of the idea that man can – and should – shape his environment according to what seems most convenient. This rush toward aggressive methods of control shows a lack of precautions that ought to take precedence when one is dealing with a set of serious poisons. Carson asks rhetorically: Is this the responsibility of the individual consumer, or those who produce and market these products?

Acceptable levels of pesticide residue on food are fiercely debated. While those who object to chemical residues are branded as fanatics, DDT has been found everywhere in produce and in cooked restaurant meals. Surely this is cause for alarm? The Eskimos on the far Arctic shores of Alaska are perhaps the only people free of pesticides – but even there, now, samples taken from Eskimos who had visited a hospital in Anchorage have revealed the contamination common to modern life.

It is truly a new era when no one living can be said to be born into a world without chemicals, since the present world of chemicals is entirely a product of man’s choice to change his environment – a choice whose consequences cannot be isolated and are not understood. We have acted rashly, implies Carson, but any hint of skepticism or caution is met with strong resistance by the mainstream promoters of pesticide use.