LETTER FROM
THE EDITOR
which we’re failing to keep up
with the rest of the world.
Our low level of concern and urgency is especially shocking when
you consider the high level of potential to harm our most precious
resource, our children. Decades
after Carson wrote in Silent Spring
that harm from chemical exposures begins in the womb, scientists learned she was right. We now
know that early exposure to toxic
chemicals can impact a child for his
entire life, even if the effects take
decades to manifest. Even though
Carson’s key points have been
widely affirmed by the scientific
community, the pace of progress
has been remarkably — unacceptably — slow, in large part because,
as one expert tells Lynne, “things
are far more complicated chemically than they were in Carson’s time.”
And thus, harder to regulate.
Meanwhile, we are playing a
dangerous game of catch-up. Just
this year, the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
stated that any level of lead in a
child’s bloodstream is dangerous and can cause brain damage,
no matter how small the amount.
Today, “more American school
HUFFINGTON
07.22.12
children die of cancer than from
any other disease” — yet another
quote from Carson that remains
tragically true today.
For some, the signature image
that shows how real the threat is
to our environment
is the disappearing
snowcap atop Mt.
Lynne
Kilimanjaro. For me,
reminds us
it’s the image of milthat when
lions of kids suffering
it comes to
from asthma caused
the explosion
by the explosion of
of chemicals
toxins in our environin our world,
ment, kids who are
tomorrow
afraid to go out and
is today.”
play without bringing along their inhalers. But instead of a hair-on-fire
response, our approach has been
more like wait-and-see.
By highlighting Carson’s work,
Lynne reminds us that when it
comes to the explosion of chemicals in our world, tomorrow is
today. And what we do today will
deeply affect our tomorrows —
and the tomorrows
of our children.
ARIANNA