About this book
"Silent Spring", by Rachel Carson, 1962, Houghton Mifflin Company Boston. >" was published by Shinchosha. My book was the first edition on June 25, 2001 and the eighth edition on April 20, 2003. It is a used book with a "100 yen" sticker. I forget when I bought it.
Paperbacked in 2004. I don't know if there were any translations.
About the translator "Yanichi Aoki"
I didn't know anything about the translator. It has very few kanji and is very easy to read. There are also some illustrations that add to the atmosphere of the book (there is a copy of the original cover, with the illustrations as "Lois and Louis Darling").
From that sentence, I had the impression that the translator was not a scientist or a philosopher, but a literary person. "https://www.wikiwand.com/en/%E5%8D%97%E5%8E%9F%E5%AF%A6" target="_blank" class="">wikiwand), Germany was a literary man. His real name is Minoru Nanbara. His father is Shigeru Nanbara[wiki(JP)].
I usually don't care about translators, but the book was so good and the writing so good that I looked it up. This translation seems to be criticized ("Problems in the Japanese translation of "Silent Spring" and its background" Nao Kasamatsu). In this paper, it is written that ``Aoki translates quite freely in this way, occasionally inserting supplementary notes, and sometimes arbitrarily omitting the original text. It is even possible to pose the question of whether or not he met Aoki." "Aoki's translation is subject to time constraints, and there are some parts that are questionable in modern times and some parts that need to be corrected."
I can't read foreign languages, so I read foreign books in Japanese. It conveys the thoughts of the original author as well as the thoughts of the translator. I believe that a translated book is a joint work of the original author and the translator, and that the meaning of the book is created by the author and the reader. I can't read the original, so I can only think so (laughs).
Many Japanese people, including myself, especially those who cannot read the original, think under the translator's philosophy. Recently, I found myself thinking in Nishi Amane's palm. Liberty, equality, democracy, love, consciousness, thought, reason, subjectivity, objectivity, objects... Which are translated words, which are Chinese, which are Buddhist terms? You will not be able to At least they are not the original Japanese (Yamato language). Of course, the translated language reflects the culture of the original language, the Chinese language reflects the Chinese culture, and the Buddhist terminology reflects the Buddhist thought. And I think that each is used with Japanese culture and meaning.
Memories of DDT
When I was little, I still used DDT normally. I don't think I was sprayed from my head, but I used a sprayer to spray DDT at home and at school in places where maggots were likely to grow, such as inside and around toilets.
At first, it was a powder, but at some point it seems to have become a liquid. The liquid could have been humakilla. I don't remember very well.
Memories of Pesticides
My grandparents were farmers. Every year, during Obon and New Year holidays, my parents took me to visit them. I caught insects in the mountains and fished in a nearby stream. Small fish such as crucian carp were caught.
However, after a certain year there were no more fish. The next year and the next year, I can't catch it at all. A few years later, there were some loaches, but I never saw the crucian carp again.
At night, the frogs were so loud that I couldn't sleep. It was truly a silent summer. I remember the eerieness of it. The darker the sky, the more the dragonfly disappeared.
At that time, I didn't even think that pesticides were to blame, but I remember that pesticides and sulfur with deleterious substance marks were casually left in the stables where the horses disappeared.
The bath and toilet are outside the house. Fetching water with a manual pump. It's nice to come and visit, but I don't want to live in a place like this. I broke away from the "nature-rich life" in rural areas.
School lunch
School lunch was always served with skimmed milk powder. At that time, I thought that milk was something to drink at public baths and not at home. If I remember correctly, there were some families who had milk delivered to them regularly, but I think they were families with a little money, or families with special circumstances, such as those with sick people.
If cow's milk wasn't common, beef wasn't common either. It wasn't until I became an adult that I saw a real cow. There were probably no food or dairy cows around. There were no draft cows in my region.
The culture of eating meat (eating beef) was born under the influence of Western culture after the Meiji period. Beef culture must have flourished in Tokyo, but it wasn't until I became an adult that cheap beef was imported from Australia and New Zealand. I remember being surprised to suddenly see beef ribs in supermarkets for the same price as pork.
Excess milk (skimmed milk powder) is forced, excess beef is forced, and pesticide is forced. No, they are sold, not forced. The process is written by Mika Tsutsumi (“ It is written in detail in Gentosha Shinsho).
Mr. Tsutsumi's book also deals with glyphosate (Roundup[wiki(JP)]), but it's been more than 60 years since this book was published, and the situation has not improved a bit. means not
What is unique about Roundup is that it is sold together with "genetically modified crops" that are resistant to it.
If you go to a hardware store, you will find piles of various pesticides and herbicides, and even 100-yen shops carry various pesticides and herbicides.
Just a few minutes. Find out what medicines are in the supermarket. You don't need to know much about chemistry. Even the most insensitive person would be appalled at the sight of a dreadful array of poisons. (P.197)
I gave up on chemistry when "organic" came up in chemistry in high school. Until then, science had been something that I could explain logically, but I felt that organic chemistry was more like a memorization subject than logic. Still, I try to look at the ingredient list as much as possible, but there are almost no substances that I know. That goes for food too. Look at the ingredient list of familiar sweets. It almost always contains ingredients that you didn't learn at school. The name may change just because the manufacturing method is different. I think that only "allergen indication" is properly written to avoid corporate responsibility.
Allowable amount
Some chemicals are prohibited by law from being manufactured. However, most chemical ingredients have a “permissible amount”. Radiation doses are also determined, as well as substances that are recognized as toxic.
I think many people remember that the permissible amount of radiation (standard amount) changed several times after the Great East Japan Earthquake (2011).
Although the administration determines the maximum allowable amount of contamination for each chemical and calls it the "tolerance", there are obvious drawbacks to this method as well. In the current situation, the permissible amount is only nominally safe, but since the permissible amount is fixed, it is only necessary to comply with it. Sprinkle a little poison on our food--a little poison on this side dish, a little on that side dish. (P.205)
If we touch the chemical again and again, even if only slightly, the chemicals will accumulate in our bodies, and eventually we will fall into the symptoms of poisoning. Who can now remain clean and innocent? A life isolated from the outside world can only be imagined, but it is impossible in reality. (P.197)
Some mice developed tumors even though they were fed low-contamination diets. There was no line that this amount was okay. (P.248)
It is said that the ingestion of small amounts of radioactivity or chemical carcinogens disrupts normal cellular respiration and robs of energy. And once you get into that state, you can't go back. (P.253)
Warburg's theory also explains why it is sometimes more dangerous to ingest carcinogens in small doses and more than in large doses. At high doses, cells die quickly. This is because when the amount is small, the cells continue to live in an unusually tortured state and become cancerous cells. Therefore, the line "safe" cannot be drawn at this level for carcinogens.
In addition, while the same factor may help treat cancer, it may also cause carcinogenesis. For example, everyone knows about radiation. In addition, various chemicals used to treat cancer. Warburg's theory also explains why these strange things happen. After all, both radiation and chemicals impair cellular respiration. Cancer cells are originally completely unable to breathe, so if they get hurt even more, they die. However, if a normal cell is damaged in this way, it will not die and will take the path of malignancy. (P.254)
Both radiotherapy and anti-cancer drug treatment seem to be expensive (this is what gives rise to products such as "cancer insurance"). But I think If radiation destroys cancer cells, it will also destroy normal cells. If anticancer drugs kill cancer cells, they will also kill normal cells to some extent. They are both “your cells”.
Substances (chemicals) do not exist in isolation
Some chemicals change themselves in the body and in the soil.
Heptachlor also has a strange property, transforming into a chemically different substance called heptachlor epoxide. It changes after entering the soil, plant and animal tissues. Experiments with birds show that the modified epoxide is about four times more toxic than the original. (P.42-43)
The author points out that the problem is not only one chemical substance, but also the relationship with another chemical substance.
Until now, almost nothing was known about the terrible things that can happen when different chemicals interact with each other. (P.50)
There is currently no definitive way to detect the constituents, as they are extremely rare when they reach the ocean. Chemicals must change on their long journey, but there is no way to know if they will become more or less toxic. Also, how the chemicals interact with each other--this is also uncharted territory. (P.175)
The toxicity of A (a new chemical substance) alone is measured by the manufacturer. Also about B. But it doesn't measure what effect A and B have when they meet in the body. A simple example is "eating together". "Eel and Umeboshi". A and B alone are delicious. It might be good for your health too. But if you eat A and B together, it will upset your stomach. On the contrary, there may be good deals. The same is true for bleach that is "dangerous if mixed".
How does a new drug relate to all the drugs currently on the market? No, it is impossible to test how they react to food, beverages, metals, and everything else. And what about A, B and C? It is impossible to test an infinite number of combinations.
If you look even briefly at the mysterious movements of the human body, you will find that cause and effect are simply connected, and that cause and effect are seldom traced directly. I know not. Cause and effect are separated in space and time. If you want to find out the cause of illness or death, you can often find out only by collecting research results from various fields that have nothing to do with appearance.
We are usually preoccupied with the direct cause, which is always clearly visible, and ignores the rest. As long as it doesn't manifest itself in a clear form, no matter how dangerous you say it is, you won't feel it. (P.212)
There is no guarantee that a drug that works for 99 people will work for you. Eating eel and umeboshi does not mean that everyone will get a stomach ache. There will also be physical condition when eating. An event in the past that the person himself/herself does not remember, such as touching a pesticide or being stung by a bee, may have a significant interaction with the current medicine.
Methoxychlor is said to be safe only because it does not accumulate in large amounts only then, but not always. When the liver is weakened for some other reason, methoxychlor accumulates in the body 100 times more than normal, and, like DDT, permanently damages the nervous system. But even if you don't have a clear liver disease, even if you don't have any subjective symptoms and your liver is just a little damaged, this kind of thing can happen. For example, using different pesticides, using detergents containing carbon tetrachloride, taking tranquilizers (some tranquilizers are chlorinated hydrocarbons, which can cause liver side effects), etc. These things happen out of nowhere. (P.218)
Experiments have shown that such damage from radiation can also be caused by radiomimetics—chemicals that act like radiation. . Because it has a radiation-like effect, it covers a wide area, including insecticides and herbicides, and damages chromosomes, disturbs normal cell division, and induces mutations. Such damage to the genetic material may cause the individual to become ill, but it may also affect the individual only after generations have passed. (P.231-232)
Even if you make it through the rest of your life, it can still affect your children and grandchildren.
Beneficial Insects/Pests
It's not a threat of "I'm scared" (although it's a threat in a way). Changing behavior under threat is temporary. If you don't have experience (experience), you will soon forget it, and it won't be passed on to others or descendants.
When I was a junior high school student, the word "food chain" appeared in a textbook. Until then, the idea of "the law of the law" was the core, with humans at the top, so this is a big change. I was also taught the idea of symbiosis and parasitism. It's what we call "ecology". It seemed that "human-centrism" would collapse.
But at the top of the food chain were humans. Other organisms, even though they are related to each other, ultimately exist "to keep humans alive." Whether it is symbiosis (also commensal symbiosis), parasitism, beneficial insects or pests, from the human point of view, or ``from my point of view'', ``whether it is beneficial or not''. It is a projection of subjectivity.
Insects are not only attacked by viruses and bacteria, but also by fungi, protozoa, microbes and other invisible organisms in the microscopic world (which are usually beneficial to humans). creatures) are also plagued. (P.316)
The difference between beneficial insects and pests, and the difference between putrefaction and fermentation, are human-centered. From the perspective of the food chain, if there was no such thing as "rot", plants and animals would disappear from the earth in one generation (or several generations). We live with countless bacteria and viruses. It might be better to say that, like the air, we live surrounded by bacteria and viruses. Both insects and plants (weeds) are related and live. It may be possible to express (find out) in human language what the meaning of each existence is and what kind of relationship they have. But it's an infinite number of combinations, just like drug interactions.
Beneficial insects (which are beneficial) are clearly what humans see. And since they are related to each other, I don't think there are any "pests". If there is, it must be "human" trying to overcome nature.
I happened to be reading Koichiro Uno's book and it reminded me of this. Young people today may not realize it, but in the past people used to hang mosquito nets. Of course, there were "mosquito coils," but instead of burning mosquito coils every day, we put a line between mosquitoes and humans. In order to prevent flies from sticking to the rice at every meal, I put it in a 'fly book'. A closet or hood cover. It wasn't that we "don't kill" mosquitoes and flies, but that we "removed" them while we ate and while we slept.
Conquest of Nature
This is just an arbitrary phrase that humans have come up with for good. It is a word that was created in the so-called Neanderthal era of biology and philosophy. He was proud of the idea that nature exists to serve human life. Seeing the way applied entomologists think and do things is like being in the Stone Age of science. What a terrible calamity it is to have the newest weapon in the hands of a simple science that can hardly be called a science. He had devised a terrifying weapon and aimed it at insects, but at the earth itself, where we humans live. (P.325)
Western society has categorized nature, that is, organisms, and categorized substances. The basic unit of living things is "species", and the basic unit of substances is atoms. However, it was not possible to "capture" living things or objects with it. The seeds and atoms were further analyzed. As the types of living things increased, atoms were broken down into smaller units. I don't know what's beyond that. I try to explain inorganic matter, organic matter, genes, plants, animals, etc. using quarks, string theory, and uncertainty principles. And even "outer space". Even if we can't do it, science advances by believing that "it will be possible someday." However, it has not been able to explain the important person. This is despite the fact that the study of humans is as (or more?) subdivided and studied than the study of nature.
The mystery deepens as the analysis is subdivided. When can science know all about living things, get rid of only certain insects (pests), or breed only certain plants? One of the reasons that learning cannot fully understand humans (their selves) is that they lose their "freedom". The contradiction between knowing and freedom arises from self-objectification. Knowing oneself and making logical decisions is incompatible with "freedom."
If you cannot know yourself, you cannot control (or control) yourself. Even so, the self strongly seeks freedom as the "ego." This leads to the control of the “other,” that is, other people, plants, and insects. And it fails as it fails self-control. It is impossible while thinking "for human beings = for myself".
The pathogen spread against human will. In contrast, most carcinogens are intentionally introduced into the environment by humans. And if you have the will, you can get rid of most carcinogens. There are two ways for chemical carcinogens to enter our world--one, ironically, because we all want a better, easier life, and the other, Because part of our economy, as well as our way of life, demands the manufacture and sale of such horrible chemicals. (P.264)
The reason new chemicals are distributed is because there are people who "make money" from them. This is because it is a capitalist society, but it cannot be said that chemicals will not be distributed in a socialist society. Lenin's planned economy is based on the premise that ``it is possible for humans to control the economy''. For a planned economy, it is necessary to understand the quantity and distribution of each good, that is, the "relationship between goods." Therefore, a huge "matrix (matrix in mathematics)" is used. It is truly an allegory of "living things and their relationships". And I think it's impossible.
The other is the "lifestyle", which is simply the "convenience" that we pursue. It is the sentiment of using insecticides instead of fly nets. The same goes for health consciousness. If you use rubbing alcohol instead of washing your hands, you don't think about what kind of germs and viruses you're killing and how they are related (perhaps to yourself).
It is said that "the average life expectancy has increased due to improved hygiene" and "the neonatal mortality rate has decreased." Maybe so. At the same time, "senile dementia" and "prenatal diagnosis" have become social problems. Artificial insemination (test-tube babies) and "surrogate motherhood" also remain controversial. It may be “right” for life expectancy to increase and neonatal mortality to decrease. Are prenatal diagnosis, artificial insemination, and surrogate motherhood the “right” thing? People will think differently. Whether you think it's "right" or "wrong", it's just "human judgment". It has nothing to do with dogs or cats. It seems that it has nothing to do with sperm, eggs, or even a child to be born. Recently, I've started to think that life expectancy doesn't matter when I'm approaching senile dementia.
I think that trying to live a long life, in other words, trying to control one's life span, is a way of thinking based on my "ego", just like trying to conquer nature (or life). It is.
New disease (food allergy, hay fever, atopy (atopic dermatitis))
Even when I was little, there was a word "allergy". I think it was used in such a way as to say, "That person is not good at it. It's an allergy." I think there were people with food allergies back then. There have been people with buckwheat allergies for a long time, and there must have been people who died from it. My father loved soba. I'm not good at soba and "New Year's Eve soba" was painful. Even so, I was forced to eat it because I was told to eat it in one bite. I didn't die.
At some point, various "allergies" seem to have arisen. Wikipedia's "Food Allergies" has a long table of causative foods. When my child was born, I first heard the word "atopic dermatitis". I think I heard the word "hay fever" after I became an adult.
These are autoimmune diseases, and the names of these diseases are surely increasing. When I'm not feeling well (or when my health checkup results are bad), not only will I be able to use my health insurance for treatment (maybe), but I'm also relieved.
You said you were there for a long time, but were you really there? There are times when the theory (?) that "○○ (historical person) was XX" causes a stir in variety shows and the mass media. It seems that it was so when considering based on "description in the literature". Illness is defined ``in the society'', so whether a certain condition of a person is a disease or not is determined by that society in its culture and history. I used to think that diseases existed "objectively" apart from society and history, but I would be wrong.
Apart from that, allergies, atopy, and even "cancer" (cancer may also be an autoimmune disease) are associated with "chemical substances" (directly or accumulated Is it possible to say with certainty that it is not an effect of genetics or genetics? Radiation (nuclear power plants and X-rays), electromagnetism (displays and 5G), and other environments that humans (living organisms) have never touched before have an adverse effect on our bodies. Should we embrace “science”?
Some people get rashes from lacquer, others don't. Some people are easily bitten by mosquitoes, others are less likely to be bitten, some are very swollen when bitten, and some are nothing at all.
Nature
In the primitive stage of agriculture, pests and the like are hardly a problem. However, with the adoption of a form of agriculture in which only one type of crop is planted on vast fields, troublesome situations have arisen. First of all, this farming method laid the groundwork for the outbreak of certain insects. Monocropping does not take full advantage of the forces of nature itself. It's like farming as an engineer thinks. Nature has created many changes in the earth, but man has been so eager to simplify them that the balance and control which nature has so far created among the species has been destroyed. rice field. (P.27)
"Farming" may be the planting of a specific crop in a limited area. The same goes for livestock. This will improve 'productivity', but no matter how large the scale, it is not 'natural' and will upset the balance of nature.
Cultivating rape blossoms attracts bees. I want to eat rape blossoms, but I hate bees. Canola flowers cannot be grown without bees. I think it's okay to have the feeling that "human beings live by having a part of the workings of nature shared with bees".
The larger the scale of cultivation, the greater the imbalance. Hundreds of thousands (millions?) of birds are culled each year due to avian influenza, but what else is it but human selfishness?
Nature
Why is nature here the way it is, and why should it be left as it is? It is done. Just as if I had a book open before me in which all these things were written. But no one read the book. (P.83)
I think it's a quote. I feel like the only areas I haven't read are the areas under the influence of modern Western culture. Conversely, I think it can be said that it is "an area where books are generally found." The author wrote this book. But do you think it is possible to turn nature into a book? What can be made into a book is what is called ``science'' or ``learning,'' and that is only ``one side of nature''. Of course, it is "a part", but even if science develops in the future, it can only express what humans are subject to. And the target is "things that have risen to human consciousness," or more precisely, "only human consciousness." The chasm (wall) between the consciousness and the object will never be filled. This is because it will no longer be a target as soon as it is filled.
The ideas of "giving to nature" and "receiving blessings from nature" are not "logic" or "ethics" as written in books. It's not written, it's a traditional culture. It has been handed down from parent to child. I dislike "tradition" and have found the word "innovation" irresistibly attractive. I have a habit of thinking ``consciously'' and ``logically'' about things that come to my consciousness, rather than the ``things'' that exist in reality. I can't think of any other way of thinking. And no matter how much I dislike the word, I vaguely realized that there was no other way than "ethics" to "judgment" that "knowledge". It is impossible to think that selling pesticides and insecticides for profit is a "bad thing" other than that "ethics".
And "logic" and "ethics" are "irrelevant" to nature.
{Addendum}
I know. That banned pesticides continue to circulate. Also, change the product name, change the ingredient display, and constantly create new ingredients.
And, even after decades of "really" no use, pesticides seep out from the depths of the soil every time the field is plowed.
But they are "measurable". Measurement capabilities are limited and not all laboratories have the latest equipment. And I know that the standard value of "effect on the human body" is changing more and more.
Things that are harmless to Mr. A may be harmful to Mr. B. Is something that is harmless to 999 people but harmful to one person “harmful”? Is it possible to logically compare the lives of 100 people with the lives of one person?
Once upon a time, I heard a story from a person in the waterworks department. I don't remember the exact numbers, but it is said that the chance of getting cancer from chlorinating this tap water is 1 in 100,000. has cancer," he said with a sad face.
Can you say that his sadness is unfounded?