4 ms·
If Benjamin Franklin had his way, we'd still think DDT was a great idea. Eagles be damned.
by burgerbrain 15y ago
If Benjamin Franklin had his way, we'd still think DDT was a great idea. Eagles be damned.
- nate_meurer 15y agoHow so? Asking seriously -- I just started reading a bio of Franklin, and I'm hungry for details.
- burgerbrain 15y agoBenjamin Franklin advocated making the turkey the national bird instead of the bald eagle. I assume that if he were successful, people wouldn't care quite so much about eagles these days ;)
- sophacles 15y agoThe argument probably goes something like this: 1. Ben Franklin wanted the wild turkey to be the national bird/symbol, not the bald eagle. 2. DDT is particularly devastating to bald eagles (due to transmission through fish which concentrate the DDT and makes the shells of bird eggs too thin to properly allow full term hatching (bald eagles really like fish)). 3. Since the bald eagle is the national symbol of the US this was a major rallying cry of the anti-DDT folks 4. If the turkey was instead the national symbol, presumably fewer people would have cared about the DDT effects on eagles, causing a weaker response to DDT dangers (e.g. not putting in a blanket ban on its use). NOTE: point 4 is pure speculation on outcome, but not unreasonable. Also, the argument I present is just me speculating that is what the GP meant.
- burgerbrain 15y agoJust about nailed it. Of course I'm mostly joking, but I hate birds and recently got a bunch of bug bites....