In 1962, Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring was published in the United States. It was thanks to this publication that the use of chemicals in agriculture became a subject of public debate and controversy.
People began to consider the possible undesirable effects of pesticide use – the death of beneficial insects and field birds, water contamination, cancers in people living in areas subjected to spraying and dusting. The most well-known example is DDT (in Poland also known as Azotox), a now somewhat forgotten insecticide whose name was once almost synonymous with environmental contamination. Intensive aerial fertilisation can also be harmful to the environment. For example, in New Zealand, where aerial fertilisation was widely used, algal blooms were observed in rivers into which fertilisers had leached, resulting in a decline in fish populations. This led to regulations that took into account the protection of water bodies during agricultural aviation operations.
Even the benefits of using aviation to extinguish burning forests are sometimes questioned by scientists, who point out that periodic fires have, in a broader perspective, a beneficial effect on the forest environment. The wave of controversy surrounding the chemicalisation of agriculture resulted in strengthened controls on chemicals used in agriculture and how they are applied. New regulations were introduced governing the permissibility and manner of use of chemicals for spraying and dusting, and the most dangerous substances were banned. Regulations were introduced specifying the weather conditions under which agricultural aviation operations can be conducted, so that, for example, spraying does not affect water bodies, environmentally valuable areas, or impact wildlife. As in every field of human activity, experience leads to better understanding and control of the consequences of our actions.
The number of victims of the budworm extermination campaign was so large that the poisoned were transported by buses; after the spraying, thousands of bees and dozens of cows died, and even people. — Wojciech Sobociński*
