02/04/05 Alar sixteen years later, Part three

Although apple growers who suffered through the Alar scare of 1989 and the early 1990's may say nothing good came out of that episode, in hindsight, some positives have bloomed as a result of that CBS "60 Minutes" report. One is that the apple industry has become more proactive in debunking negative media reports about it. It also parallels with the story of how it has successfully tied itself to the nation's growing awareness of health, especially in the realm of obesity. But just as important, as a way to calm the fears of consumers riled up during the Alar scare, is the growing story of how apples are grown using much safer means. One grower in the recent video presentation "100 Years of the Washington State Horticultural Association" summed it up the improvements in pest and disease management. GROWER: Over the last twenty years, the materials that we were using when I got out of school compared to the materials that we are using now, it's like night and day. Examples include how growers have gone from using all purpose chemicals to more specific applications. GROWER: We've come up with these chemicals that can target one particular pest at one particular point in its life cycle, that won't affect the other bugs and won't affect ground water and the salmon and the people. And that also includes non-chemical means such as greater use of beneficial insects to remove destructive pests in the orchards.