Olivia Azuara             

Beyond the Dreams of the Borgias

     In chapter 11 of Silent Spring, Rachel Carson references the Borgia family. The Borgia family came from Valencia and became very known during the Renaissance in Italy and the reign of Alexander VI. Because of their obsession for power the Borgias would poison people with arsenic, a chemical that is conjunctioned with sulfer and metals. Arsenic poisoning causes headaches, severe diarrhea, drowsiness and convulsions. In my opinion I think that the title Beyond the Dream of the Borgias means that their dream was to kill of all these people that went against them to gain all the power without getting caught, and as they did, we are almost doing the same. Each day we release different types of toxic chemicals into the air causing not only damage to flora and fauna but to our own selves causing lots of damage. I think that Rachel Carson would reference the Borgias because in a way she compares them to us the people of today. For example, the Borgias were trying to control everybodys actions and thinking, and if people did not agree with them the Borgia family would kill them off which connects with what we are trying to do with nature. We are trying to control the amount of insects there are and where exactly they are showing up thinking that by spraying acres of land with herbicides and insecticides will be beneficial, but in the long run we are just damaging our ecosystem.

     Bioaccumulation is the accumulation of substances, such as pesticides and other organic chemicals in an organism. Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a toxic substance at a greater rate than at which the substance is lost. An example given by Rachel Carson in this chapter was when she talked about how in a Public Health Service study it showed that prison meals are way over the max amount of toxic substances. The prisoners stewed dried fruit contained 69.6 parts per million plus bread that they also get fed containing 100.9 parts per million. In this chapter, Rachel Carson also stated that in the diet of the average home meats and products that come from animal fats contain heavy residues of chlorinated hydrocarbons. So a bioaccumulation that can happen in your own home is during dinner. If you are eating meat with a side of salad with added carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, etc. (containing small dosages of chemicals) and then drink it with a big glass of milk (derived from animal fat). This dinner would be a large amount of toxic substance accumulation making it a bioaccumulation.