When Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published in 1962, it awakened a slumbering nation to the environmental degradation caused by the powerful pesticide ddt. Beginning in 1970, ddt use was scaled back, and it was banned in the U.S. in 1972. But to assure high crop yields, farmers in the U.S. and around the world still use pesticides, whose long-term effects are not known. The benefits can't be denied: The Green Revolution that fed much of Asia in the 1970s was based on the liberal use of fertilizers and pesticides. But the public concern about the health risks of pesticides is pushing farmers to look for alternatives, such as tougher, disease-resistant seeds, to reduce their reliance on chemical intervention.

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