Ecologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber drew comparisons and inspiration to and from cancer victim Rachel Carson during a lecture Monday night addressing environmental effects on the body.

In 1990, Steingraber was asked to speak at a lecture given by a local environmental group about Rachel Carson’s experience with breast cancer and about her own battle with bladder cancer.

“I assumed I was being asked because my dissertation work focused on pesticides,” Steingraber said. “No, they wanted me to talk about how being a cancer patient had affected my research on pesticides.”

Steingraber said that she had never read Carson’s work before being asked to speak, but after researching Carson’s work, Steingraber found many similarities between herself and Carson.

Steingraber said Carson had kept her battle with cancer secret while writing “Silent Spring.” This gave Steingraber the idea to write a similar book but instead she would reveal that she had cancer.

“I began to wonder what it would be like to write an evidence-based book like ‘Silent Spring’ but with a biologist narrator who revealed her cancer diagnosis, interweaving personal stories with science,” Steingraber said.

This idea became Steingraber’s book, “Living Downstream,” in which she looked at how many chemicals are linked to bladder cancer.

“In ‘Silent Spring,’ Carson focused on one set of chemicals: pesticides,” Steingraber said. “By contrast, I chose to examine many chemicals – and not just pesticides – and explore their contribution to only one outcome: cancer.”

Steingraber also spoke about one of her recent books, “Having Faith.” She said the book looked at the environmental effects of pregnancy.

“I wanted to write a book about environmental threats to pregnancy and childbirth and breast feeding, and my audience and readership intended were other pregnant women and mothers,” Steingraber said.

Steingraber said pesticides have been found in the embryonic fluid of pregnant women. She pointed out fluid is the first environment we live in and pesticides in the fluid can lead to cancer in adults.