Though "Silent Spring" had generated a fairly high level of interest based on prepublication promotion, this became much more intense with the serialization in "The New Yorker", which began in the June 16, 1962, issue. This brought the book to the attention of the chemical industry and its lobbyists, as well as a wide swath of the American populace. Around that time Carson also learned that "Silent Spring" had been selected as the Book of the Month for October; as she put it, this would "carry it to farms and hamlets all over that country that don't know what a bookstore looks like—much less "The New Yorker"." Other publicity included a positive editorial in "The New York Times" and excerpts of the serialized version in "Audubon" magazine, with another round of publicity in July and August as chemical companies responded. The story of the birth defect-causing drug thalidomide broke just before the book's publication as well, inviting comparisons between Carson and Frances Oldham Kelsey, the Food and Drug Administration reviewer who had blocked the drug's sale in the United States.