Daminozide (trade name Alar) is a pesticide sprayed on apples to regulate their growth, make their harvest easier, and enhance their color. It was primarily used on apples, and was registered with the FDA from 1963 to 1989 -- when it was banned in response to public fears over a controversial study which found that Alar residue could produce tumors in mice.

It is produced in the U.S. by Uniroyal , which registered daminozide (or Alar) for use on fruits intended for human consumption in 1963. In addition to apples and ornamentals, it was also registered for use on cherries, peaches, pears, Concord grapes, tomato transplants and peanut vines. On fruit trees, daminozide affected flow-bud initiation, fruit-set maturity, fruit firmness and coloring, preharvest drop and market quality of fruit at harvest and during storage. [1]

The campaign to ban Alar

In 1986, concern developed in the U.S. public over the use of Alar on apples, over fears that the residues of the pesticide detected in apple juice and applesauce might harm people. The outcry led some manufacturers and supermarket chains to announce they would not accept Alar-treated apples.

In February, 1989 there was a broadcast by CBS's 60 Minutes highlighting a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council claiming that Alar was a dangerous carcinogen. In 1989, following the CBS broadcast, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decided to ban Alar on the grounds that "long-term exposure" posed "unacceptable risks to public health."

Peter Montague wrote:

"Laboratory animals were exposed to high doses of Alar and UDMH, to see if high doses would produce cancers. [Critics of the study argued that] for humans to be exposed to equivalent high doses, they would have to eat a box-car-load of apples each day." [2] ("critics" ellipsis added for Wikipedia)

Apple growers in Washington filed a libel suit against CBS, NRDC and Fenton Communications , claiming the scare cost them $100M. The suit was dismissed in 1994.

While Alar has been verified as a human carcinogen, the amount necessary for it to be dangerous may well be absurdly high. While the lab tests that prompted the scare required an amount of Alar equal to over 5000 gallons (20,000 L) of apple juice per day, Consumers Union ran its own studies and estimated the human lifetime cancer risk to be between 5 - 50 per million (1 case per million is the threshold at which the government considers a carcinogen a significant public health concern).

Elizabeth Whelan and her organization, the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) worked to establish a narrative of the Alar episode as a scare. The ACSH claimed that Alar and its breakdown product UMDH had not been shown to be carcinogenic. Whelan's campaign was so effective that today, Alar scare is shorthand among news media and food industry professionals for an irrational, emotional public scare based on propaganda rather than facts.

The Alar scare also prompted the introduction of food libel laws in 13 states.

External links

• How the Alar scare was manipulated - by both sides by Stewart Fist
• Myth of 'Alar Scare' Persists Anti-alar
• [3] Pro-Alar article at ACSH
• [4] March 1989 FDA press release

http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/food/02.htm