Daminozide - also known as Alar , Kylar , B-NINE , DMASA , SADH , or B 995 - are plant growth regulators, chemicals sprayed on the fruit to regulate their growth, simplify their crops, and keep apples from falling out of trees before they is ripe. This ensures they are red and sturdy for storage. Alar was first approved for use in the US in 1963, primarily used on apples until 1989 when it was voluntarily withdrawn by manufacturers after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. proposes to ban it based on concerns about cancer risk to consumers.
It has been manufactured in the US by Uniroyal Chemical Company, Inc., (now integrated into Chemtura Corporation) which lists daminozide for use on fruits intended for human consumption in 1963. In addition to apples and ornamental plants, it is also listed for use. on cherries, peaches, pears, Concord wine, tomato transplants and peanut vines. In fruit trees, daminozide affects bud-bud initiation, fruit maturity, fruit firmness and staining, pre-harvest decline and fruit market quality at harvest and during storage. In 1989, it became illegal to use daminozide in US food crops, but it was still allowed to be used on non-food crops such as ornamental plants.
Video Daminozide
Campaign to ban Alar
In 1985, the EPA conducted a study of Alar on mice and hamsters and proposed to ban the use of such substances in food crops. The proposal was submitted to the Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) which concluded that the tests were insufficient to determine how carcinogenic the substance was tested. Later it was found that at least one of the SAP members had a financial connection to the Uniroyal and the other had a financial relationship with the chemical industry.
The following year, the EPA lifted the proposed ban and required farmers to reduce the use of Alar by 50%. The American Academy of Pediatrics urges the EPA to ban daminozide and some manufacturers and supermarket chains are announcing that they will not accept apples treated with Alar.
In a 1989 report, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) reported that on the basis of a peer-reviewed two-year study, children were at "unbearable risk" from a variety of potentially lethal chemicals, including daminozide, which they consume legally. quantity allowed. By their estimates "the average pre-school exposure is estimated to result in a cancer risk 240 times greater than the risk of cancer considered acceptable by E.P.A. after a full lifetime exposure."
In February, 1989 there was broadcast by CBS <60 Minutes which featured reports by the Nature Resources Defense Council which highlighted the issue with Alar (daminozide).
It follows the background work of many years. According to the Environmental Working Group:
Prior to 1989, five separate studies, studied by Alar colleagues and their chemical-solving products, asymmetric dimethylhydrazine (UDMH), have found a correlation between exposure to chemicals and cancerous tumors in laboratory animals. In 1984 and again in 1987, the EPA classified Alar as a possible human carcinogen. In 1986, the American Academy of Pediatrics urged the EPA to ban it. Prior to the 60 Minutes broadcast, public attention has led six national shopping chains and nine major food processors to stop receiving apples treated with Alar. The Washington State farmers had promised to voluntarily stop using it (although tests later revealed that many did not). Maine and Massachusetts immediately forbade it.
In 1989, after the CBS broadcast, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decided to ban Alar on the grounds that "long-term exposure" poses "unacceptable risks to public health." However, before the EPA's initial decision to ban all use of Alar food came into force, Uniroyal, the sole producer of Alar, agreed in June 1989 to voluntarily suspend all Alar's domestic sales for food purposes.
Backlash
In November 1990, apple farmers of Washington filed suit at the Yakima County High Court against CBS, NRDC, and Fenton Communications (hired by NRDC to publish their report on Alar) claiming that unfair business practices (product disparagement in particular) cost them $ 100 million. The lawsuit was transferred from state to federal court at the request of CBS. US District Judge William Fremming Nielsen ruled in 1993 that apple farmers did not prove their case, and were subsequently dismissed by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Elizabeth Whelan and her organization, the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), which has received $ 25,000 from Alar manufacturers, stated that Alar and its UDMH breakdown products have not been shown to be carcinogenic. During a 1990 speech at Hillsdale College, Whelan said that groups like NRDC ignore the basic toxicology principle: dose makes toxins. "This is a tremendous departure from science and logic when a substance is labeled 'cancer-causing' based on responses in one animal study using high doses of the test material," he said. Maps Daminozide
Current view
There is still disagreement and controversy about Alar's safety and the corresponding response to it. Daminozide is still classified as a possible human carcinogen by the EPA and is listed as a known carcinogen under California's Prop 65. Its UDMH clearance product is also listed as a carcinogen Prop 65, the IARC classifies it as "possible" carcinogens, and the EPA classifies it as a "probable" carcinogen.
The level of exposure to Alar needed to be harmful can be very high. The laboratory tests that drive the fear require the same amount of Alar with more than 5,000 gallons (20,000 L) of apple juice per day. The Consumer Union runs its own research and estimates the risk of life-long human cancer to 5 per million, compared with a reported rate of 50 cases per million. Generally, EPA considers lifetime cancer risk of more than 1 per million to be a cause for action.
References
External links
- The myth of 'Alar Scare' Surviving Anti-Alar (broken link)
- ACSH Pro-Alar (broken link)
- March 1989, FDA press release (broken link)
- Meryl Streep testifies to the congress as an Alar expert
- EPA: Daminozide (Alar) Pesticides Canceled for Food Use
- Alar and apple at SourceWatch
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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