effects from the widespread use of ddt and other pesticides. have you considered asking the public health service to take a closer look at this? >> yes, and i know that they already are. i think, particularly, of course, since ms. carson's book, but they are examining the matter. >> rachel carson wrote this book about pesticides called "silent spring" in 1962, and it talked about the long-term impacts, the concept of latency and bioaccumulation, which were all new terms. farm animals were dying with monotonous regularity because pesticides -- people didn't have any awareness that if a fish ate the bug that was poisoned by pesticides, that that was going to end up in our bodies. >> it touched a raw nerve upon the american public. >> the public was being asked to accept these chemicals and did not have the whole picture. so i set about to remedy the balance there.