CBS Reports hosted a broadcast on the furor that Silent Spring caused. Interviewees included Carson and Dr. White-Stevens as major spokespeople on either side. 10-15 million people watched it. Carson's rational argument and calm demeanor helped contradict the chemical industry's attacks.
"THE SILENT SPRING OF RACHEL CARSON" BROADCAST
"As last night's CBS telecast clearly showed, there is an appalling lack of information on the entire field of environmental hazards. We face serious questions, but we are woefully short of answers."
~ Abraham Ribicoff, Connecticut Senator
"Miss Carson maintains that the balance of nature is a major force in the survival of man, whereas the modern chemist, the modern biologist and scientist believes that man is steadily controlling nature."
~ Dr. Robert White-Stevens
Rachel Carson being interviewed by CBS reporter Eric Sevareid, 1962, Environment & Society Portal
Rachel Carson appears in "The Silent Spring of Rachel Carson" CBS Reports broadcast, 1963, Youtube.com
"Children born today are exposed to these chemicals from birth. What is going to happen to them as a result of that exposure?"
~ Rachel Carson
Arguments for Pesticides
"Pesticides have contributed considerably and I would say greatly to the health in this country […] the control of malaria, which has been made possible in this country by the use of pesticides.”
~ Dr. Luther Terry, Surgeon General for the U.S. at the time
Dr. Robert White-Stevens appearing in CBS Reports broadcast, 1963, Youtube.com
Arguments Against Pesticides
"We’ve heard the benefits of pesticides, we’ve heard a great deal about their safety but very little about the hazards, very little about the failures, the inefficiencies. And yet, the public was being asked to accept these chemicals, was being asked to acquiesce in their use, and did not have the whole picture, so I set about to remedy the balance there.”
~ Rachel Carson
George Larrick, commissioner of the Food & Drug Administration, appearing in CBS Reports broadcast, 1963, Youtube.com