Ira Baldwin wrote a hostile review of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, titled "Chemicals and Pests," in the journal Science.

George W. Merck, a key member of the panel advising President Franklin D. Roosevelt on aspects of biological warfare, brought many scientists into uniform for a top secret, coordinated effort to defend against possible enemy use of biological weapons and to devise a capability to respond in kind to such an attack.

In 1943, Baldwin became the first scientific director of the U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories at Camp Detrick, Maryland.

"[2] About a month after the meeting, Baldwin was individually called by Colonel William Kabrich of the Army's Chemical Warfare Service and asked if he would lead the project.

[4] Next, Baldwin hired a staff, recruiting many who had worked with him at the University of Wisconsin, along with other scientists and military personnel.

[5] At the end of the research, Baldwin and his crew had successfully produced a large amount of biological agent to use in warfare.