How to Sell a Poison: The Rise, Fall, and Toxic Return of DDT

"In the 1940s, DDT helped the Allies win the Second World War by wiping out the insects that caused malaria, with seemingly no ill effects on humans. After the war, it was sprayed willy-nilly across fields, in dairy barns, and even in people's homes, leaving environmental and human devastation in its wake across the globe, particularly in communities of color. Thirty years later the U.S. would ban the use of DDT-only to reverse the ban in the 1990s when calls arose to bring it back to fight West Nile andmalaria. What happened? How to Sell a Poison traces the surprising history of DDT in parallel to the story of a predominantly-Black town poisoned by a neighboring DDT plant. Historian Elena Conis reveals new evidence that it was not the shift in public opinion following Silent Spring's publication that led to the ban so much as the behind-the-scenes political machinations of Big Business. She argues that we've been missing the lesson of this cautionary tale and the harm caused by DDT is a symptom of a larger problem: the prioritization of profits over public health. If we don't change our approach, Conis argues, we're doomed to keep making the same mistakes and putting people-particularly the most vulnerable-at risk, both by withholding technologies thatcould help them and by exposing them to dangerous chemicals without their consent. In an age when corporations and politicians are shaping our world behind closed doors and deliberately stoking misinformation around public health issues, from vaccines toclimate change to COVID-19, we need greater transparency and a new way of communicating about science-as a discipline of discovery that's constantly evolving, rather than a finite and immutable collection of facts-in order to restore public trust and protect ourselves and our environment"--
Tells the story of the infamous poison DDT, which caused toxic effects in humans and decimated wildlife as well as corporate efforts to bring it back in today’s climate of mistrust of the scientific community. 22,000 first printing.
The story of an infamous poison that left toxic bodies and decimated wildlife in its wake is also a cautionary tale about how corporations stoke the flames of science denialism for profit.The chemical compound DDT first earned fame during World War II by wiping out insects that caused disease and boosting Allied forces to victory. Americans granted it a hero’s homecoming, spraying it on everything from crops and livestock to cupboards and curtains. Then, in 1972, it was banned in the US. But decades after that, a cry arose to demand its return. This is the sweeping narrative of generations of Americans who struggled to make sense of the notorious chemical’s risks and benefits. Historian Elena Conis follows DDT from postwar farms, factories, and suburban enclaves to the floors of Congress and tony social clubs, where industry barons met with Madison Avenue brain trusts to figure out how to sell the idea that a little poison in our food and bodies was nothing to worry about.In an age of spreading misinformation on issues including pesticides, vaccines, and climate change, Conis shows that we need new ways of communicating about science—as a constantly evolving discipline, not an immutable collection of facts—before it’s too late.