Where do pesticides fit into the picture of environmental disease? We have seen that they now pollute soil, water and food, that they have the power to make our streams fishless and our gardens and woodlands silent and birdless. Man, however much he may like to pretend the contrary, is part of nature. Can he escape a pollution that is now so thoroughly distributed throughout our world:
杀虫剂如何造成了环境问题？我们已经知道，它们现在污染了土壤、水和食物，让我们的溪流没有鱼，让我们的花园和林地安静，没有鸟。人类尽管可能喜欢假装不属于自然，但却是自然的一部分。他能逃脱现在分布如此彻底的世界各地的污染吗：
We know that even single exposures to these chemicals, if the amount is large enough, can cause extremely severe poisoning. But this is not the major problem. The sudden illness or death of farmers, farm workers, and others exposed to sufficient quantities of pesticides is very sad and should not occur. For the population as a whole, we must be more concerned with the delayed effects of absorbing small amounts of the pesticides that invisibly pollute our world.
我们知道，即使是单次接触这些化学物质，如果数量足够大，也会导致极其严重的中毒，但这不是主要问题。农民、农场工人和其他接触足够数量农药的人突然生病或死亡才是非常可悲，不应该发生的。对于整个人类来说，我们必须更加关注吸收少量杀虫剂的延迟影响，这些杀虫剂无形地污染了我们的世界。
Responsible public health officials have pointed out that the biological effects of chemicals are cumulative over long periods of time, and that the danger to individual may depend on the sum of the exposures received throughout his lifetime. For these very reasons the danger is easily ignored. It is human nature to shake off what may seem to us a threat of future disaster. “Men are naturally most impressed by diseases which have obvious signs,” says a wise physician, Dr. Rene Dubos, “yet some of their worst enemies slowly approach them unnoticed.”
负责任的公共卫生官员指出，化学品的生物影响是长期累积的，对个人的危险可能取决于他一生中接触的总量。正是由于这些原因，危险很容易被忽视。摆脱在我们看来可能是未来灾难的威胁是人类的天性。一位聪明的医生Rene Dubos博士说：“男人天生对有明显迹象的疾病印象最深，但一些最可怕的敌人慢慢地在不知不觉中接近他们。”
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