Word: alaric
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STRAWBERRIES Biggest scare since Alar--remember that? Kids and berries take...
...testing and research on its side. The magazine's more recent warnings, they add, have not been similarly grounded in facts or else have made minimal risks seem major ones. In May 1989, CR did a story on the health risks posed by the continued use of the chemical Alar to ripen apples. The piece made news in other magazines and on TV and helped spread alarm about the chemical; eventually, stores took Alar-treated apples off the shelf, costing U.S. apple growers an estimated $100 million in discarded produce. While some, including CR, still maintain that Alar could pose...
...next to the Oval Office. But it's hard to take someone seriously when she can belt out Memory from Cats. Someone has to answer for all that liberal silliness--Jessica Lange testifying on farm policy after starring in Country or Meryl Streep testifying that traces of the pesticide Alar could be harmful to apple juice-swilling children. Her wealth, high visibility and long fingernails make her a much more attractive target than gray leaders of industries who hold forth on things they know nothing about. But that's not enough to explain why she has become such a lightning...
...Alar on apples, radon in homes, asbestos in schools. the U.S. appears to ricochet from one environmental crisis to another, with the result that policy aimed at reducing risks to human health frequently appears to make little economic or scientific sense. Even some environmentalists concur that decisions to rip asbestos out of school buildings were probably ill considered. In many cases, sealing the dangerous fibers in place would have provided a more prudent and less costly remedy. Similarly, while no one denies that homes with high levels of radon pose a health hazard requiring prompt attention, what about houses with...
...raises anew the dangers of dioxin, the agency needs to communicate its findings to the public in a calm and clear fashion. No one is eager to touch off the kind of hysteria that preceded the government's decision to move against Alar, the growth regulator once used by apple growers. When celebrities like Meryl Streep spoke out against Alar and the press fanned public fears, some schools and parents rushed to pluck apples out of the mouths of children. Yet all this happened before scientists had reached any consensus about Alar's dangers...