Agriculture: Aroused Spring

Marine Biologist Rachel Carson is mentioned only once in the U.S. Government's report on the use of pesticides. But its authors, sponsored by Presidential Science Adviser Jerome B. Wiesner, leave little doubt that it was Miss Carson who put them to work. Before her book Silent Spring appeared, they point out, "people were generally unaware of the toxicity of pesticides." Now the public is so worked up that the report issued last week seems at least partly designed to encourage legislation that will control, but not prevent, the use of valuable chemicals.

The report starts off by stating clearly that modern intensive agriculture could not get along without chemicals to kill damaging insects. Nonchemical ways of controlling pests, such as the introduction of their natural enemies, are sometimes useful, but they rarely do the job that modern farming requires. "The use of pesticides must be continued," says the Government's scientists, "if we are to maintain the advantages now resulting from the work of informed food producers and those responsible for the control of disease."

Despite its lack of alarm, the report clearly recognizes that the large-scale use of pesticides is a new phenomenon that should be studied and carefully regulated. There is no doubt that in large quantities some chemicals can do harm, and the small amounts of pesticides that get into human bodies at present may have long-term effects that have not yet been recognized. New pesticides may prove to have unexpected dangers, and familiar ones may become damaging if they accumulate in soil or ground water. To avoid such threats, the report recommends: > More federal research on the effects of pesticides on humans so that better protective rules can be drawn up.

> Elimination of large-scale spraying campaigns that are not really necessary. > Continuous watch on the amount of pesticides and similar chemicals accumulating in air, water, soil, man, wildlife and fish.

> Reduction, when practicable, in the use of pesticides that persist in soil and water.

> Legislative changes that will give the Federal Government better control of all chemicals that affect man's environment. The call for tighter regulation may frighten chemical companies, but it does not support the more extravagant claims of their outspoken critics—those who believe that control of insects and other pests should be left to the "balance of nature." Nature must be kept out of balance, the report recognizes, if man is to survive in his present numbers.