Robert Van Den Bosch: Stop the Pesticide Conspiracy
(Page 4 of 12)
July/August 1979
By the Mother Earth News staff
PLOWBOY: But the concept of a balance of nature is certainly much older than DDT . . . why didn't more people see the danger coming?
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VAN DEN BOSCH: The only way I can answer that question is by speculating that we had become so technologically cocky we figured we could defy nature and ignore the laws of ecological balance. Therefore, we tried to impose ourselves upon the earth—tried to dominate it—and, of course, the environment found its own ways of striking back.
It should have been obvious all along that no species can really overpower nature without disrupting the entire planet's ecosystems and food chains. Yet that kind of domination is exactly what we humans are still trying to achieve . . . and is responsible for the many, many ecological problems that are beginning to manifest themselves.
PLOWBOY: Would you say, then, that the balance of nature is probably the most effective population management tool at our disposal?
VAN DEN BOSCH: Definitely, and most especially when the control efforts are directed at insects. Bugs are our competitors for a number of resources . . . and they're the most successful antagonists that the human race has yet encountered! The bears are almost gone, and the great cats are pretty much relegated to zoos . . . we've chopped down whole forests and dug up prairies . . . but the earth's insects are holding their own. In fact, because of our mistakes, they're doing better than ever!
Insects are, you see, too varied, too genetically plastic, too adaptable to adversity or opportunity, and too incredibly prolific in their reproductive capabilities to be managed with a unilateral chemical control technique. In effect, these creatures simply thumb their antennae at us when we try to defeat them with such simple tactics.
PLOWBOY: But don't most biologists understand that a purely chemical control system cannot work?
VAN DEN BOSCH: I would assume that most intelligent biologists recognize this fact. However, I sometimes wonder if entomologists are—as a group—quite as bright as are members of the other biolgical disciplines. I have a former student who refers to us bug specialists as "dumb biologists" . . . and I'm afraid-considering the way some members of my profession have gone about pest control—that he's on the right track.
PLOWBOY: Is there much disagreement among entomologists as to which forms of insect regulation are most effective? For instance, do some of your compatriots favor regular pesticide use?
VAN DEN BOSCH: Certainly, and that's been the basis for a lot of the problems that have impeded our attempts to institute integrated control techniques. Some of my fellow entomologists are completely dominated and orchestrated by the chemical industry and by the proponents of chemical control tactics.
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