Hunter was born on December 16, 1918, in Brooklyn[1] to Gabriel Trum, who worked as a silk cutter in a dyeing plant, and the former Martha Engle.

[2] Hunter was educated at Richmond Hill High School in Queens and graduated from Brooklyn College in 1940 with a B.A.

[1] Hunter warned against the consumption of artificial additives, processed foods and preservatives, excessive sugar and the dangers of pesticides.

[1][6] She took interest in environmental issues and donated 210 acres (85 ha) of land to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.

The reviewer commented that "this book is a veritable mine of information, the logical sequence to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, for it tells us how to apply both natural and highly sophisticated controls in our struggles with pests without poisoning ourselves and most of our fellow creatures.

[9] Her book Food Additives and Federal Policy received a mixed review in the American Scientist magazine.

The reviewer described it as a "rather disjointed but nonetheless informative, account of the toxicological hazards of food additives, this book builds up to a climax that underlines the inadequacies of our testing procedures, the failure of the regulatory agencies to endure the safety of food additives, and the undue influence of industry in pressuring regulatory agencies, through committees and other devices, to maintain their products on the market with a minimum of testing.