Remembering Rachel Carson who died fifty years ago, April 14, 1964.  In her book Silent Spring (1962) she wrote, "It would be unrealistic to suppose that all chemical carcinogens can or will be eliminated from the modern world. But a very large proportion are by no means necessities of life. By their elimination the total load of carcinogens would be enormously lightened, and the threat that one in every four will develop cancer would at least be greatly mitigated. The most determined effort should be made to eliminate those carcinogens that now contaminate our food, our water supplies, and our atmosphere, because these provide the most dangerous type of contact -- minute exposures, repeated over and over throughout the years.

... For those in whom cancer is already a hidden or a visible presence, efforts to find cures must of course continue. But for those not yet touched by the disease and certainly for the generations as yet unborn, prevention is the imperative need. (Silent Spring, Chapter 14, One in Four)

The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson

www.rachelcarson.org

Life of Rachel Carson, founder of contemporary environmental movement, author of Silent Spring, advocate of nature and environmental ethics, against the misuse of chemical pesticides,breast cancer survivor and best selling nature writer, marine biologist and literary celebrity.