After years of witnessing American robins dying or dead on her lawn each spring, a St. Louis, Michigan, resident sent two dead robins to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Disease Laboratory. Upon examination of the robins, the Michigan DNR sent the birds to a lab at Michigan State University where concentrations of DDT and its metabolites DDD and DDE were found in the robins’ brain tissue. Soon thereafter, on June 22, 2012, the headline in The Morning Sun, a central Michigan newspaper read, “Dead Robins in St. Louis Poisoned by DDT.” Yes, it was 2012 and, ironically, the date marked the 50th year since Rachel Carson, “launched the environmental movement” by explaining the history and effects of pesticides on our nation’s wildlife in her book, Silent Spring.
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