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   ms-mcgregor Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   Rachel Carson wrote a now famous book which helped launch the modern environmental movement. The book was called "Silent Spring". It exposes the damage the pesticide DDT was doing to the eggs of birds. Birds exposed to DDT would lay eggs with very fragile shells. The shell would often crack open before the baby birds were ready to be hatched. In many areas where DDT was used extensively, the bird population was dropping dramatically. Eventually, DDT was banned as a pesticide but her book had other far reaching effects. It revealed the dangers of so-called miracle products that were killing insects but killing birds and other animals and posing possible risks to humans who ate the crops sprayed with the pesticides.

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   http://www.enotes.com/history

   http://www.enotes.com/silent-spring/

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   Posted by ms-mcgregor on Saturday October 25, 2008 at 10:21 AM