Rachel Carson was a writer and ecologist who is widely considered one of the founders of the environmental movement. Carson was the first woman to take and pass the U.S. civil service test in 1936, and ultimately became the chief editor of publications for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As early as 1945, Carson had become alarmed by government abuse of new chemical pesticides such as DDT, in particular the "predator" and "pest" control programs, which were broadcasting poisons with little regard for the welfare of other creatures. She resigned from her government position in 1952 in order to devote all her time to writing. Her book, Silent Spring, serialized in the New Yorker in June 1962, laid bare the dark side of pesticide use with eloquent prose and cold scientific facts. Carson was assailed by threats of lawsuits and derision, including suggestions that this meticulous scientist was a "hysterical woman" unqualified to write such a book. A huge counterattack was organized and led by Monsanto, Velsicol, American Cyanamid, and the entire chemical industry, duly supported by the Agriculture Department. Silent Spring became a runaway best seller, with international reverberations, and is regarded as the cornerstone of the new environmentalism. Silent Spring not only changed the practice of agricultural scientists and the government, but also called upon people to change the way they view their relation with the natural world.