When it was published in 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring called

When it was published in 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring called attention to the use of pesticides and pollution of the environment. Carson’s book is credited with facilitating a 1972 ban on agricultural use of the pesticide DDT in the United States and with launching the environmental movement in the western United States. Her study revealed the negative effects of pesticides on birds, in particular, and accused the chemical industry of misinforming the public about the effects of pesticides on humans and the environment. DDT had originally been used to control mosquitoes and the spread of malaria, and by the time of Carson’s book, DDT was being produced in large quantities and sprayed indiscriminately as an agricultural insecticide. Carson proposed a more natural approach to pest control as an alternative to DDT, but chemical and agribusiness firms criticized her ideas as naïve and impractical.

Even before the book was published, it was strongly opposed by leading chemical manufacturers, who claimed that DDT was necessary to combat harmful disease-carrying insects. As it turned out, DDT was never banned for anti-malaria use, and Carson even granted in her book that chemical agents could have some benefits in the realm of pest control as long as they were used as sparingly as possible. In fact, Carson’s work was not advocating a ban on or a complete halt to the use of pesticides, but rather encouraging more responsible use of them in light of her findings that the chemicals could impact an entire ecosystem. Before writing Silent Spring, Carson was known for her writing on natural history, and she had not previously been considered a social critic. Carson was criticized for not being a scientist; nonetheless, her work had a tremendous impact. Given the state of public knowledge about chemical science at the time of the book’s release, Silent Spring did a great deal to educate its readers about the ways in which toxins could accumulate in the environment, and it prompted the public to call for a change.

1.Based on the passage’s discussion of Carson’s book, which of the following arguments did the book most likely NOT include?

A. An argument in support of using pesticides sparingly
B. An argument in support of natural alternatives to DDT
C. An argument encouraging responsible pesticide use
D. An argument in support of banning pesticide use
E. An argument aimed at promoting a desired change



2.According to the passage, an important outcome of Carson’s book was that

A. DDT was banned for agricultural purposes but not for malaria control
B. chemical companies lost revenue as a result of the book’s publication
C. birds were able to proliferate in areas where they were once endangered
D. the research was not well received within the scientific community
E. newer research has since disproved many of Carson’s findings



3. This passage is chiefly concerned with

A. explaining a book’s impact
B. evaluating a book’s research base
C. contrasting a book’s subject matter with previous findings
D. reporting the results of a newly released study
E. criticizing an author’s methods