In February 1989, millions of television viewers tuned in to "60 Minutes" and heard Ed Bradley declare, "The most potent cancer-causing agent in our food supply is a substance [Alar] sprayed on apples to keep them on the trees longer and to make them look better." The story, fed to the show's producers on an exclusive basis by an environmentalist public relations firm, was based on a single rodent study by the National Resources Defense Council that was neither peer-reviewed nor published in a reputable scientific journal. Mice were fed such massive doses of the substance that many died from acute poisoning. The P.R. campaign was so successful that a panic ensued as parents forced schools to stop serving apple juice, supermarkets pulled apple products from their shelves while often cynically hyping their alternative Alar-free products, and many apple producers were forced out of business. Apple growers lost about $250 million, apple processors lost an additional $125 million, and the USDA purchased $15 million of leftover apples.

The EPA's Scientific Advisory Board, on the other hand, found no problem with Alar and repeatedly refused to ban it up until the panic forced them to do so. Dr. C. Everett Koop, former Surgeon General and chairman of the National Safe Kids campaign, commented in 1992, "As a pediatric surgeon, as well as the nation's former Surgeon General, I care deeply about the health of children, and if Alar ever posed a health hazard I would have said so then and would say so now. But the truth is that Alar never did pose a health hazard. The American food supply is not only the most adundant in the world, but it is also the safest. Paradoxically—it has achiceved that position in the world market just because of chemicals like Alar that have made it possible." Although the National Cancer Institute declared that Alar does not cause cancer, "60 Minutes" has refused to retract its story.

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