Word: alar
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Carlson perpetuates the bad science and vile scare tactics that made headlines about silicone breast implants and alar. Just because there are toxic levels for anything you care to name, including oxygen and water, doesn't mean that less is always better. I think it's the carcinogens in barbecued meat that make it taste so good. What the world needs is rational thinking and cost-vs.-benefit analysis, not people like Carlson using her own fear and ignorance to beat conservatives over the head. I remember an old chemist's adage that there are no toxic compounds, only toxic...
What some critics call "veggie libel laws," arose out of the 1989 controversy over the pesticide Alar. After 60 Minutes ran a report linking Alar to cancer in children, Washington State apple growers sued. After the court ruled in favor of the TV show, the agriculture industry turned its outrage into action. Working with farm lobbies across the country, it campaigned for new state laws lowering the burden of proof for plaintiffs suing over the bad-mouthing of food. So far, 13 states have passed food-disparagement laws, and a dozen other states are considering them...
...have civil rights? Yes, food producers say. When charges against a meat or vegetable get picked up by the national media or aired on a show like Oprah's, they can do millions of dollars in damage before the affected industries can respond. As in the case of the Alar scare, when apple sales plunged and apple growers were devastated, real lives are affected. "The states are reacting to the deep frustration of the food industry," says Steve Kopperud of the American Feed Industry Association. "Farmers and ranchers are not faceless corporations--there is a human element to this...
...proved to cause cancer and then banned in the U.S. "Going back to Upton Sinclair and The Jungle, a free and open discourse about food safety has been critical," says Lawrie Mott, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council and one of the authors of the Alar report. "With each of the major debates, we have seen reforms emerge...
...insult the legumes either. Thirteen states now have so-called veggie-libel laws that allow farmers to sue anyone who unfairly claims their products are dangerous to eat. Agricultural lobbyists argued for these laws after apple growers saw their sales plummet following a 60 Minutes report that Alar, a chemical used in the apple industry, may cause cancer. The threat of libel, First Amendment advocates fear, could put a clamp on public debate of legitimate health concerns, especially as food producers explore new agricultural techniques such as irradiation, genetic engineering and fertilizers made out of recycled sewage. The first major...