Daminozide – also known as Alar, Kylar, B-NINE, DMASA, SADH, or B 995 – is a plant growth regulator, a chemical sprayed on fruit to regulate growth, make harvest easier, and keep apples from falling off the trees before they ripen so they are red and firm for storage. Alar was first approved for use in the U.S. in 1963. It was primarily used on apples until 1989, when the manufacturer voluntarily withdrew it after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed banning it based on concerns about cancer risks to consumers. It was produced in the U.S. by the Uniroyal Chemical Company, Inc,, which registered daminozide for use on fruits intended for human consumption in 1963. In addition to apples and ornamental plants, they also registered for use on cherries, peaches, pears, Concord grapes, tomato transplants, and peanut vines. On fruit trees, daminozide affects flow-bud initiation, fruit-set maturity, fruit firmness and coloring, preharvest drop and market quality of fruit at harvest and during storage. In 1989, the EPA made it illegal to use daminozide on U.S. food crops, but still allow for non-food crops like ornamental plants.
The campaign to ban Alar
In 1985, the EPA studied Alar's effects on mice and hamsters, and proposed banning its use on food crops. They submitted the proposal to the Scientific Advisory Panel, which concluded that the tests were inadequate to determine how carcinogenic the tested substances were. Later they discovered that at least one of the SAP members had a financial connection to Uniroyal, and others had financial ties to the chemical industry. The next year, the EPA retracted its proposed ban and required farmers to reduce Alar use by 50%. The American Academy of Pediatrics urged EPA to ban daminozide, and some manufacturers and supermarket chains announced they would not accept Alar-treated apples. In a 1989 report, the Natural Resources Defense Council reported that on the basis of a two-year peer reviewed study, children were at "intolerable risk" from a wide variety of potentially lethal chemicals, including daminozide, that they ingest in legally permissible quantity. By their estimate, "The average pre-schooler's exposure was estimated to result in a cancer risk 240 times greater than the cancer risk considered acceptable by E.P.A. following a full lifetime of exposure." In February, 1989, the CBS television program 60 Minutes'' broadcast a story about Alar that featured a report by the Natural ResourcesDefense Council highlighting problems with the chemical. In 1989, following the CBS broadcast, the United States Environmental Protection Agency decided to ban Alar on the grounds that "long-term exposure" posed "unacceptable risks to public health." However, in June 1989—before the EPA's preliminary decision to ban all food uses of Alar went into effect—Uniroyal, Alar's sole manufacturer, agreed to halt voluntarily all domestic sales of Alar for food uses.
Disagreement and controversy remain about the safety of Alar and appropriateness of the response to it. Daminozide remains classified as a probable human carcinogen by the EPA and is listed as a known carcinogen under California's Prop 65. The lab tests that prompted the scare required an amount of Alar equal to over 5,000 gallons of apple juice per day, according to the pro-industry American Council on Science and Health. Consumers Union ran its own studies and estimated that the human lifetime cancer risk was 5 cases per million, as compared to the previously-reported figure of 50 per million. Generally, EPA considers lifetime cancer risks in excess of 1 per million to be cause for action.
