Comments on: 10 Books that Changed America

By: kennypo65

kennypo65 — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:26:48 +0000

After reading the comments on this list and on many others, given a choice between birds and humans, I’ll take birds. The only good thing about humans is that they are mortal.

By: eclecticpoet

eclecticpoet — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:18:26 +0000

If you look at the EPA’s own data (http://www.epa.gov/iris/subst/0147.htm), detrimental effects were not seen until you reached 5ppm in the diet of the mice. If you look a little further down you’ll see a study that found damage at all levels, but the lowest level tested was 20ppm. In the three other studies mentioned quickly after the previous one, the scientists found no harm done in concentrations much higher than any of the previous studies.
While I’m not saying that DDT is harmless, it is much less dangerous than it has been made out to be. This is especially true when you consider that the estimated amount retained in the bodies of the general population at a time when 80 million tons of the stuff was being used per year was much much lower than 5ppm (something like 0.01ppm I believe).
Randall, I am sorry about your father’s pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately, none of the animal tests showed damage to the pancreas. Two of them did show damage to the liver as previously mentioned. Diabetes mellitus, being over age 60, eating a diet high in meat, and simply being male have all been shown to be risk factors for developing pancreatic cancer. It is very tempting to latch onto a banned chemical as the culprit, but none of the scientific data backs it up. Unfortunately, cancer just happens sometimes. My aunt died of leukemia without industrial carcinogen exposure or family history.
I think the biggest point to take away is that the amounts needed for preventing malaria would result in small enough exposure to preclude any risks that have been identified. That plus the enormous amount of human life lost without the use of DDT in malaria fighting efforts should make it a no-brainer to use the stuff in areas where malaria risks are high. Sadly, many of the malaria-free countries of the world (US included) continue to work against using this time tested and proved chemical in the areas that needed. It’s ironic that we deny them the very chemical that we used to remove the threat of malaria from our shores.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:27:33 +0000

Hello and excuse me, how can “Catcher in the Rye” not be included on this list?

By: Corey

Corey — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 21:13:07 +0000

I’m proud to say I’ve read all of these, and I’m pleased that they were on the list. I expected almost all of them.

I have to say, I was a little surprised to see “Common Sense” at number 1 – only because it’s always been referred to as a “pamphlet”. It seems like if you are to include “Common Sense”, you could probably include the Constitution or similar documents.

By: Top Ten! « PapoWorld

Top Ten! « PapoWorld — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 09:22:57 +0000

[...] Top Ten Books that Changed America [...]

By: Bakubaku

Bakubaku — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:35:23 +0000

having not read all of the 113+ coments before mine, i do not know f i was the first one to point this out, but upton sinclare’s the jungle was first and foremost communist propoganda. He had no intention of improving the system aside from introdcing communism to the masses

By: Francois Tremblay

Francois Tremblay — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:14:48 +0000

Whatever happened to Atlas Shrugged?

By: jfrater

jfrater — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:33:34 +0000

katrina: hah good one – I didn’t think about that!

By: katrina

katrina — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 06:56:54 +0000

As for books that have changed New Zealand, did you condider the Edmond’s Cookbook?

By: Art

Art — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:20:35 +0000

Tens of millions of third world children, victims of milaria, have been sacrificed on the altar of Rachel Carson’s leftist enviromental delusions.

Her book built the false idol that leftists worship to this day. It’s pages drip with the blood of the innocent.

DDT was a miracle that prevented more than 500 million deaths according to the US National Academy of Sciences. It killed no one.

Here is a link to JunkScience.com on DDT: http://www.junkscience.com/ddtfaq.html