Pesticides, pollution and the UK's silent spring, 1963-64 : Poison in the garden of England
Abstract
Despite being characterized as ‘one of the worst agricultural accidents in Britain in the 1960s’, the ‘Smarden incident’ has never been subjected to a complete historical analysis. In 1963, a toxic waste spill in Kent coincided with the publication of the British edition of Rachel Carson's Silent spring. This essay argues that these events combined to ‘galvanize’ nascent toxic and environmental consciousness. A seemingly parochial toxic waste incident became part of a national phenomenon. The Smarden incident was considered to be indicative of the toxic hazards that were born of technocracy. It highlighted the inadequacies of existent concepts and practices for dealing with such hazards. As such, it was part of the fracturing of the consensus of progress: it made disagreements in expertise publicly visible. By the completion of the episode, 10 different governmental ministries were involved. Douglas Good, a local veterinary surgeon, helped to effect the ‘reception’ of Silent spring in the UK by telling the ‘Smarden story’ through local and national media and through the publications of anti-statist organizations.
Citation
Clark , J F M 2017 , ' Pesticides, pollution and the UK's silent spring, 1963-64 : Poison in the garden of England ' , Notes and Records of the Royal Society , vol. 71 , no. 3 , 297 , pp. 297-327 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2016.0040
Publication
Notes and Records of the Royal Society
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0035-9149Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2017, the Author. Published by the Royal Society. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2016.0040
Description
Funding for much of the research for this essay was obtained from a Carnegie Trust Research Grant.Collections
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