Birds and pesticides: is the threat of silent spring really behind us?

摘要

What would Rachel Carson say if she came back today? Would she still be sounding the alarm about a world without the sound of birds in our fields and forests? In this year's Rachel Carson Memorial Lecture, Senior Research Scientist for Environment Canada Pierre Mineau describes why Rachel Carson warned of a 'silent spring.' Dr. Mineau discusses what happened when we switched from organochlorines like DDT to newer pesticides that were less persistent but dangerous to birds in different ways. Forty-seven years after the publication of Carson's ground-breaking book, uncounted millions of birds around the world continue to die from pesticides. The industry still resists regulation and governments are slow to deal with the problem. Nevertheless, Dr. Mineau sees some reasons for hope.