Toxic Drift: The Lasting Legacy of Post-World War II Pesticide Use
Channel: Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Date: 2013-11-13

Pete Daniel
Historian and Curator, Division of Work and Industry, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington DC

Following World War II, chemical companies put wartime research to use in the domestic market: with the help of agricultural experts, they promoted the use of synthetic chemicals as pesticides. The haunting consequences include children playing hide-and-seek in the mists of DDT produced by a spray truck, ducks falling dead from the sky, and massive fish kills. Pete Daniel will discuss this instance of government failure to protect human health and wildlife, and explore its implications for newer issues such as mad cow disease and genetic engineering.

Hosted by: Department of History

In conjunction with: Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society, Center for Global Studies, Collaborative for Cultural Heritage and Museum Practices, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, College of Law, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Department of Human and Community Development, Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, Department of Philosophy, Department of Political Science, Department of Sociology, Department of Speech Communication, Environmental Council, Environmental Law Society, Human Dimensions of Environmental Systems Program, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Martin Luther King Jr. Committee, Medical Humanities and Social Sciences Program, Natural History Survey, School of Art and Design, Spurlock Museum

Tuesday, April 25, 2006
7:30 pm
Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum