[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: The ALAR Rebellion



>>.           RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY #535           .
>>.                    ---February 27, 1997---                    .
>>.                          HEADLINES:                           .
>>.                  THE ALAR REBELLION OF 1989                   .
>>.                          ==========                           .
>
>>LAST IN A SERIES--THE ALAR REBELLION OF 1989
>
>    Thank goodness!  I find it quite tiresome listening to the
>diatribes of pseudo-scientists who seem to take great delight in
>using the same persuasive tactics that they so condem when others
>use them.
>
>    Fortunately, most of us have minds of our own which are perfectly
>capable of filtering out the fringe rhetoric from both ends of the
>spectrum.
>
>                                   Chandler


I totally disagree with you on both points, Chandler, but that's beside the
point.  So as not to let you have the last word on this important subject,
I submit the following:

If the press were able to filter out the fringe rhetoric created by the
pesticide and apple industry and they would not be consistantly, to this
day, calling this event the "Alar Scare" and citing is as an example of
activism gone askew.  Instead they should be reporting accurately that Alar
is a very potent carcinogen, it was in most apple products and most apples
in the 1980s and the risk was significant by EPA's standards.  And that a
conservative federal judge threw the apple growers case against 60 minutes
and NRDC out of court. After the case was thrown out the industry went on a
national editorial board tour "re-educating" the major newspapers of the
country on this story.

For those who care to be educated, this Rachel's series is the best account
of the Alar story ever put together, in my opinion.  It was a five part
series starting on January 23 1997 Rachel's #530.  Truely worth the read.
Back issues are available on the Rachel's website
hhtp://www.monitor.net/rachel/

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Kert Davies
ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP
1718 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 600
Washington, D.C.  20009
e-mail:  kert@ewg.org
EWG web page:  http://www.ewg.org
202-667-6982  fax 202-232-2592
Any opinions expressed are mine and not my employer's.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*