PESTICIDES FILES, 1939 - 1973, bulk: 1949 - 1963

Summary: Documentation of the League's investigation of pesticide use, and its effect on consumers.

Document types include correspondence; newspaper and magazine clippings; pamphlets; reports; copies of actual and proposed state and federal legislation; copy of Canadian legislation; leaflets; government publications; lists; technical journals; and occasional statements, press releases, and a television news program transcript.

Subjects covered include diseases caused by pesticides, protection of workers from the harmful effects of pesticides, organic farming, and non-chemical pest control. The correspondence mostly concerns a study on pesticide use by Mary K. Farinholt, The New Masked Man in Agriculture (1962), published by the League.

Of particular interest are responses to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962), the controversial series of articles and book about the danger of pesticide, which inspired the League's study. Also of interest are the "Poison Pants Incident" file (1961) which documents a case of pesticide-contaminated blue jeans sold at a second hand store spreading disease, and a court case involving the effect of chemical spraying on neighboring farms.