Primavera silenciosa

SILENT
RESEARCHING THE

SPRING
AND WOMEN’S

REVIEW
SUMMER 2007

ENVIRONMENT

HEALTH

From Earth Indivisible
Terry Tempest Williams reflects on the unbreakable links between the health of our planet and the health of our own bodies.

Our Commitment

The Silent Spring Review is published by Silent Spring Institute, which is dedicated to identifying the links between theenvironment and women’s health, especially breast cancer. Executive Director Julia Green Brody, PhD Board of Directors Ellen Parker, Chair Bev Baccelli Lawrence N. Bailis, PhD John K. Erban, MD Catherine Farrell, Esq. Amy Present Cathie Ragovin, MD Anne Speakman National Advisory Council Joan Gardner, Chair Samuel Bader, PhD Vernal Branch Shelley Hearne, DrPH Jeanne Mockard Ellen Parker Mary S. Wolff, PhDFriends of Silent Spring Institute Ellen S. Calmas, Chair Scientific and Administrative Staff Kathleen Attfield, Staff Scientist Anna Batty, Administrative Assistant Judith Blaine, Information Specialist Anne Bonner, Director of Development and Community Affairs Diane Czwakiel, Administrative Manager Sarah Dunagan, Research Assistant Gwen Dwyer, Administrative Assistant Clare Froggatt, DevelopmentAssistant Allan Just, Research Assistant Cheryl Osimo, Cape Cod Coordinator Ruthann Rudel, Senior Scientist Laurel J. Standley, PhD, Senior Scientist Silent Spring Review is published by Silent Spring Institute 29 Crafts Street, Newton MA 02458 phone: 617 332 4288 fax: 617 332 4284 email: info@silentspring.org web: www.silentspring.org Editor: Paula Brewer Byron Editorial Consultant: StephenDickerman Designer: Joseph Quackenbush Photography: Cheryl Himmelstein, cover; Digital Vision/Getty Images, page 3; AP Photo, page 5; Tony Hutchings/Photographer’s Choice/ Getty Images, page 6; Alfred Eisenstaedt/ Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images, page 7; Craig Lee/San Francisco Chronicle, page 8; Mark DuFrene/West County Times/AP Photo, page 9; courtesy of Vernal Branch, page 10; Vital Albuquerque,page 11; Chad Baker/ Ryan McVay/Getty Images, page 12 Silent Spring Institute, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has received support from the Agua Fund, Art beCAUSE Foundation, Avon Foundation, Babylon Breast Cancer Coalition, Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates, Beldon Fund, The Breast Cancer Fund, Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank Charitable Foundation, Cape Cod Foundation, TheDolphin Trust, Fleet Foundation/Charles F. Bacon Trust, GALE Fund, Heinz Endowments, Hurricane Voices Breast Cancer Foundation, Jane’s Trust, Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust, John H. and H. Naomi Tomfohrde Foundation, Massachusetts Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Massachusetts Environmental Trust, National CancerInstitute, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Library of Medicine, National Science Foundation, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Susan S. Bailis Breast Cancer Research Fund of Silent Spring Institute, University of Massachusetts Lowell, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program, U.S. Geological Survey, andindividual and corporate contributors.

Forty-five years ago Rachel Carson captured the nation’s attention with her imagined portrayal of wildlife imperiled by the indiscriminate spray of pesticides. “The few birds seen anywhere were moribund,” she wrote. “They trembled violently and could not fly. It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of scoresof bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh.” When Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, her vivid prose and persuasive arguments helped spark the modern environmental movement. The book also sparked the ire of the chemical industry, whose representatives labeled Carson a “hysterical woman” and tried to dismiss her as a “priestess of nature,”...