DDT Wars

Given the 29 June 2015 5-4 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court against the E.P.A.’s attempt at regulating the levels of Mercury and other toxins emitted by power plants in MICHIGAN ET AL. v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ET AL., the publication of Charles F. Wurster’s new book DDT Wars: Rescuing Our National Bird, Preventing Cancer, and Creating the Environmental Defense Fund by Oxford University Press couldn’t be more timely. Not because Professor Wurster was a party to the case, mind you, but because what currently passes for a public debate on matters of emissions regulations in the United States is distressingly reminiscent of what occurred during the years between when the pesticide DDT was put into widespread use and when it was finally banned in 1972.

While reading Professor Wurster’s book will very likely be an uncomfortable reminder of the road from which we only diverged at the last moment before irrevocable harm was done to the Bald Eagle, the Osprey, myriad other creatures, and last but certainly not least, ourselves, it is nevertheless good to be reminded of such events in order that we might draw upon such recollections to help us prevent them in the future. I, for one, am eager to be reminded.