. Seldom does a book generate such controversy, produce such profound and numerous public policy results, or bring about so much new activity in a social movement.was no ordinary book. Its message resonated with a public increasingly concerned with the environment and its effect on human health. It also caught the attention of leading political figures who were not afraid to confront corporate America.
Carson’s work was so catalytic because it linked conservation of nature to human health and tapped into the public’s distrust of political and corporate power, calling for greater accountability. It also engaged women as a new constituency for the environment. After the book’s publication, women all over the country wrote letters to editors, voicing concern about environmental issues as caried as fluorides and nuclear fallout.
As Carson battled both cancer and the radiation treatments that were poisoning her body, she steeled herself for the onslaught that would follow publication of her book. Chemical trade associations and individual companies attacked her with a barrage of criticisms, laden with sexist imagery and language.
As Carson battled both cancer and the radiation treatments that were poisoning her body, she steeled herself for the onslaught that would follow publication of her book.“It is the public that is being asked to assume the risks that insect controllers calculate,” Carson wrote. “The public must decide whether it wishes to continue on the present road, and it can do so only when in full possession of the facts.