According to Rachel Carson in Silent Spring, “the most alarming of all man’s assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials” (6). Carson’s argument against the use of pesticides “confronted us with the chemical corruption of the globe and called on us to regulate our appetites- a truly revolutionary stance- for our self-preservation” (XIX).
Today, more than ever, we need to follow Carson’s advice and take a stand against companies like Monsanto (one of the largest biotechnology agricultural corporations in the world) who are creating genetically modified crops that are able to withstand their own pesticides. Meaning, that instead of finding an alternative to using pesticides all together, they decided to create crops that can withstand the pesticide so they wouldn’t lose any precious money in pesticide sells. These genetically modified crops are known as Round-Up ready crops and account for 90% of soybeans and 70% of corn and cotton grown in the United States.