Silent spring and the nordic agricultural maqazines

Abstract

The connection between mad cow disease (BSE) and humans, and the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Great Britain in February 2001, have shaken the principles of the commercial farming business. The great leap from mixed organic farming to commercial farming took place in the industrialised countries soon after the Second World War. Important preconditions for commercial farming were the new innovations made in the agricultural chemistry. The principles of commercial farming were for the first time called into question at the beginning of the 1960s by the late American biologist, Rachel Carson, in her book, Silent Spring (1962). The book was a ‘declaration of war’ on the chemical companies and researchers working with chemical crop-protection all over the world. Silent Spring was soon translated into the Nordic languages. This article focuses on the reactions of the leading Finnish and Swedish agricultural magazines to Carson's provocative claims. Among Swedish agricultural experts, Carson's book inspired a critical debate about the safety of chemical crop-protection, whereas in Finland the agricultural magazines wanted to skate over Carson's disagreeable accusations. The attitudes of the agricultural, magazines to Silent Spring are approached from agricultural political and ethical aspects.