Theos-Talk Archives (July 1996 Message tl00334)

Remember Alar?

A perfectly fine insecticide when used as directed.  But not long ago, there
was a mass hysteria over "poison apples" in little Johnny's school lunch
program.  Hollywood celebrites who were suddenly experts in toxicology
testified before Congress, with the result that apples were pulled from the
school lunch program and there was a multi-million dollar effect on
agribusiness.  All of that made front pages and 5 o'clock newscasts, of
course.  When it was later determined that not one of the "experts" had a
clue about what they'd been saying, that was not so newsworthy.  Bottom
line: Alar is not and never has been a health hazard, that concentrations
remaining on an apple skin are in the ppm range, if at all, and if the idea
of ppm Alar (which is demonstrably harmless) bothers someone, they can still
just wash the apple before eating it.

"NeutraPoison"?  Doss, I don't doubt your motives for posting someone else's
propaganda, but when they use terms like "NeutraPoison" and "grand mal
seizures of pilots in aircraft cabins," it makes me wonder about their
objectivity.  Can you imagine the testing that went on about Aspartame,
developed as it was after all the cyclamate nonsense?  I work in the
chemical industry, and a dozen or so years ago I was with Kay-Fries, a
chemical company that supplied cinnamic acid to Searle for aspartame
production.  Since it was the core of our business, we naturally kept up
with all the thousands of reports and studies and... I have no problems with
anyone in my family using all the NeutraSweet they like.  Searle is no
longer the manufacturer and the process is now different, but aspartame is
still basically an amino acid structure.  If you can't even kill a rat by
cramming it full of aspartame instead of food, it's hard to imagine that the
FDA missed the "neurotoxin" effects alleged in the post.  Diabetics may have
their own special health requirements, but the rest of us don't need to
spend the time worrying about artificial sweeteners!   

Jim