409 



Advisory Committee. The first, issued May 15, 1963, warned of the 

 increasing hazards in the use of pesticides. It said : 



The Panel believes that the use of pesticides must be continued if we are to 

 maintain the advantages now resulting from the work of informed food pro- 

 ducers and those responsible for control of disease. On the other hand, it has 

 now become clear that the proper usage is not simple and that, while they 

 destroy harmful insects and plants, pesticides may also be toxic to beneficial 

 plants and animals, including man. Their toxic effects in large do.ses are well 

 known and precautions can be taken to see that humans are never needlessly 

 exposed. But we must now also take measures to insure that continued expo.'iures 

 to small amounts of these chemicals in our environment will not be harmful 

 over long periods of time.' 



Accordingly, the Panel recommended a number of measures to re- 

 duce the hazards inherent in the widespread application of toxic pesti- 

 cides. Specifically, it recommended that the Federal Government and 

 the States monitor residue levels in air, water, soil, man, wildlife, and 

 fish ; that the permissible tolerances of residual pesticides be authorita- 

 tively revaluated ; and that the use of persistent (i.e.. long-lived) pesti- 

 cides be reduced — except to control disease — and that "elimination of 

 the use of persistent toxic pesticides should be the goal." ^ 



Another report of PSAC, May 1967, was a "Report, of the Panel on 

 the World Food Supply." It warned that "there are more hungry 

 mouths in the world today than ever before in history." The problem 

 of food/population unbalance liad been approached piecemeal, but 

 needed to be dealt with vigorously, comprehensively, and systemati- 

 cally, with due regard for all its complex ramifications.^° One element 

 in tho program was the inf^^'cape in food nroduction. This increase re- 

 quired a large increase in the use of pesticides. Said the Panel : 



Large increases in the use of pesticides are necessary to increase food produc- 

 tion. All types of insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, nematoc-ides. and rodenticides 

 are needed. At the present time, only 120.000 metric tons are used in the develop- 

 ing world, excluding Mainland China. If food production is to be doubled, 700,000 

 metric tons will be required." 



The questions raised in this chapter center on this dilemma: If man 

 tries to impose total control over pests by chemical means, he poisons 

 his own environment and that of the myriad of natural life forms on 

 which in many subtle ways the life of man depends. If man fails to con- 

 trol the parasitic pests that multiply by consuming his growing food, 

 man faces mass starvation. Wise management of resources requires the 

 achievement of a balance between these two opposite hazards. Only by 

 increasing his understanding of the relationships within nature,*and 

 of the effects of pesticides on consequential forms of life and their 

 interrelationships, can man progress toward this balance. This require- 

 ment is evident in 1069. What effect did it have on the framing of the 

 Insecticide. Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act of 1947? What was the 

 relative salience of the two opposite hazards of pests and pesticides? 



IT — COXGRESSIOXAL CONSIDERATION OF PeSTICIDE LEGISLATION, 1946-47 



Hearings were opened February 5, 1946, in the Committee on Agri- 

 culture of the House of Representatives on H.R. 4851, "A Bill To 



8 Usp of Pesticides, op. cit., p. 38. 



»IhirI.. pp. n^^riQ. 



^" U.S. President's S<*ieree Advisory Committee. "The World Pood Problem". A report 

 of the • • • vol. I. Report of the panel on the world food supply. The White House, 

 Mnv 19fi7. (Washing^ton, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1967), "pp. 4-5. 



^ Ibid., pp. S6-S7. 



