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]]]]]]]]]]]]]]] THE ALARA ALARM [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[
Letter to ther Editor by Freeman 10602PANC (4/1/1989)
[Printed in Gannett Westchester Newspapers, 30 Mar 1989, p.A19:1]
Oleg Panczenko
12 Madison Ave.
Ossining, NY 10562
Work: 914-769-7800
Letters to the Editor
Gannett Westchester Newspapers
One Gannett Drive
White Plains, NY 10604
20 March 1989
To the Editor:
Perhaps by now Americans are settled down enough to take a
more dispassionate view of the recent pesticide scare which was
masterfully orchestrated by the National Resources Defense
Council (NRDC), an anti-industrial lobby.
The scientific view of pesticides, other chemicals, and cancer
was summarized by Dr Bruce N. Ames of the Department of
Biochemistry, University of California, Berkeley, and his
colleagues in the magazine Science (April 17, 1987):
``Extrapolation from the results of rodent cancer tests done
at high doses to effects on humans exposed to low doses is
routinely attempted by regulatory agencies when formulating
policies attempting to prevent future cancer. There is little
sound scientific basis for this type of extrapolation, in part
due to our lack of knowledge about mechanisms of cancer
induction, and it is viewed with great unease by many
epidemiologists and toxicologists. ...''
``There is increasing evidence that our normal diet contains
many rodent carcinogens, all perfectly natural or traditional
(for example, from the cooking of food), and that no human diet
can be entirely free of mutagens or agents that can be
carcinogenic in rodent systems. ...''
``We are ingesting in our diet at least 10,000 times more by
weight of natural pesticides than of man-made pesticide residues.
These are natural ``toxic chemicals'' that have an enormous
variety of chemical structures, appear to be present in all
plants, and serve to protect plants against fungi, insects, and
animal predators. ... they commonly make up 5 to 10% of the
plant's dry weight. ...''
``[S]ynthetic pesticide residues in foods ... [are] likely to
be a minimal carcinogenic hazard relative to the background of
natural carcinogens.''
Oleg Panczenko
-------------------
[Sysop's Note:
Freemen!
Here is a letter the way it should be: short and fact-filled. More
people have read this letter than the editorials in the Gannett West-
chester newspapers. Please read and IN YOUR OWN WORDS send to your
own local newspapers! Do not forget to point out who took the apple
out of schoolboys' mouths: the National Resources Defense Council.]
* * *
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