Living Downstream: A Scientist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment

Steingraber discusses the contributions of Rachel Carson and her groundbreaking work Silent Spring at length. Examine the relationship between the two authors. How does Steingraber’s Living Downstream continue the narrative Carson began in 1962? Consider whether the circumstances surrounding environmental contamination are any better or worse.

In the mid to late 1970s, the US government enacted various environmental policies to address the legal limits for pesticide residues in food and animal feed and establish guidelines for manufacturing companies to test products for toxicity. What are some of the benefits and drawbacks of these acts? In what ways have they helped provide awareness of toxins in the environment? How could one or more of them be improved to address environmental contamination today?

Scientific experiments on animals have helped identify many human health conditions and their causes, but testing potentially carcinogenic chemicals on laboratory animals is complex and expensive. In 2007, The National Research Council began using robots to evaluate chemicals, which is far more efficient than traditional testing but has limitations; for example, it can’t read and interpret significant amounts of data at once. Consider whether the benefits of traditional testing outweigh the faster, automated approach and whether certain circumstances might call for one method over the other.