Word: alaric
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Government's failure to apply a safe-rather-than- sorry standard to another fruit that set off a similar fruit frenzy a week earlier. It started with a report from the Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental group, that apples treated with the growth regulator Alar were soaking small children with dangerously high levels of daminozide, a possible carcinogen. 60 Minutes aired the story, and actress Meryl Streep, now a leading lady in the fight against pesticides, was quickly booked solid on talk shows and Capitol Hill. Soon apples were ordered removed from school cafeterias in New York City...
...that point a generalized fear of fruit swept the country. National Restaurant Association spokesman Jeffrey Prince said, "We learned to our relief that Granny Smith apples were not treated with Alar, only to learn to our horror that they were included in the Chilean ban. It seems you can't win for losing." Health-conscious restaurants that had banished artery-clogging red meat, butter, eggs and cheese from their menus now had to remove the fruit plate...
...Daminozide (trade name: Alar), a chemical that is used chiefly on red apples and that penetrates the fruit's skin, is the greatest cancer hazard. The NRDC predicts that daminozide use may cause one case of cancer for every 4,200 preschoolers. Though the percentage of children affected -- 0.024% -- is minute, the risk is 240 times the standard considered acceptable by the Environmental Protection Agency -- one case of cancer per million...
...which is examining this issue at the EPA's request: "The food tolerances are set on good agricultural practices. The Government does not adequately address the impact of pesticides on children." The baby-food companies have already got the message. Gerber and Beech-Nut, for example, do not use Alar-treated apples in their products, and pesticide residues on the crops they accept for processing into baby foods are much lower than federal limits...