Fear of Food: Environmentalist Scams, Media Mendacity, and the Law of Disparagement [Paperback]

Andrea Arnold (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2010

Fear of Food is the story of how a campaign against one chemical, Alar, devastated apple growers from New York to Washington State, told for what it really was: A well-orchestrated effort to raise money and recruit supporters by frightened mothers with false alarms about apples and cancer. The fear of food, as author Andrea Arnold calls it, is one of the most serious collective panic attacks we as a nation have ever experienced. Its instigators, well-known interest groups and the news media, are threatening the agricultural productivity of the nation with highly exaggerated stories of " imminent hazards" that upon investigation turn out to be low-level risks already being removed by our regulatory agencies. Modern agriculture of the kind that feeds hundreds of millions of people cannot thrive without safe controls on the myriad of pests that decimate crops annually. Properly tested and approved pesticides are essential to our survival. By spreading false and misleading scare stories of exaggerated dangers from pesticides, the "instigators" could very well cause public panic and ill-conceived political measures that would destroy America's farm productivity- and the American farmer.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Andrea Arnold is a researcher, writer and computer consultant. She has contributed research to numerous books on technology and society.

Product Details

• Paperback: 164 pages
• Publisher: Merril Press (January 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0939571080
• ISBN-13: 978-0939571086
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,032,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Hospitality, Travel & Tourism
  • #30 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Media Studies
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frightening look at media power., April 13, 2001

By 

Daniel L. Taylor (Oak Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fear of Food: Environmentalist Scams, Media Mendacity, and the Law of Disparagement (Paperback)

What happens when the media decides to yell "fire!" in a crowded theater and there is no fire? The answer is found in this book. And it's an answer that will leave you questioning media reports for years to come.

Andrea Arnold documents and explores the Alar controversy from its beginning on 60 Minutes to its conclusion, the devastation of countless farmers and the alarming of the American public. What she discovers is a shocking disregard for journalistic integrity, not by suspect media sources, but by the names and faces America has come to trust.

Perhaps worse than the betrayal by our national news sources is what that successful betrayal reveals: Americans are quite ignorant regarding the science and laws pertaining to the environment. And our ignorance leaves us vulnerable to any claim by those presuming to act in our interest, no matter how extreme or unsupportable their claims may be. Perhaps because of our ignorance, we have also become too trusting of news and media outlets, and of public interest groups. We presume they are unbiased when in fact they are people who are vulnerable to the same failings, biases, and even greed, that the rest of us are subject to.

Along the way Andrea Arnold presents basic information that every American should know regarding the science of toxicology and the pesticide laws of the EPA. Chapters 2 and 3 should be studied, not just read. The information is of tremendous value and leads to a calmer, more rational view of our food supply.

Some may take issue with Arnold's conclusions regarding environmentalists. She could have perhaps drawn a better distinction between the extremists she's discussing and reasonable people who value both nature and society, a class into which most Americans would fit. Still, if anyone needs to beware that there are extremists out there, it's the balanced environmentalists who are more likely to fall prey to the extremists.

Others will no doubt criticize this book as being `anti-environment' or a `defense of polluters'. I've found such claims to be empty of thought. These people do not challenge the factual claims of the book, probably because they cannot. But if the factual claims are true, then Arnold's conclusions generally follow. Attempts to poison the well or throw up a smokescreen using lofty phrases and spiteful rhetoric do not detract from Ms. Arnold's work.

This is an excellent and highly recommended book.

10 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Pesticides Are Not Food, July 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Fear of Food: Environmentalist Scams, Media Mendacity, and the Law of Disparagement (Paperback)

Just what we need is another apologist for corporate agriculture and the chemicals industry.

Excuses are not solutions. I looked to this book to teach me something new and revealing about pesticide use or, at least, discuss realistic solutions to the issue of man-made toxicity in our environment. Instead, Arnold trots out the same old arguments: environmentalists are alarmists, profits must rule America, poor little farmers are being victimized by fanatics.

This is nonsense. The greatest users of pesticides are not small farms, but corporate agribusiness. The grassroots movement toward responsible use of our environment is not conducted by a minor group of fanatics who just want to raise money for their own organizations (what kind of spaghetti logic is that?). Organic farmers now grow approximately 20% of the produce in this country. Concern over pesticides worldwide is very strong, in the US as well as Europe and Japan. Organic farmers have proven that a) pesticides don't work properly and b) pesticides may actually harm profits. Fetzer Winery found that, since beginning the switch to organic farming, the quality of their grapes has improved.

Pesticides are poisons. Everybody knows this. An estimated 1,000 people will die in the US this year of cancer related to pesticides. Is seeking a solution to this tragedy a "scam"? is it nothing more than "disparagement"?

I was so terribly disappointed in the weak logic and obviously-manipulated "data" in this book. Arnold fails to show me a safe, sensible relationship between agriculture and consumers. She simply tries to instill the fear she cites, herself, in irresponsibly pointing the finger at the debunkers of pesticide technology instead of addressing the very real issues of environmental toxicity. In obsessing over excuses for the continued use of pesticides, she misses the obvious point: fear of pesticides is not fear of food. Pesticides are not food.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars We need a good objective book on this subject, July 9, 2011

By 

Bill (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fear of Food: Environmentalist Scams, Media Mendacity, and the Law of Disparagement (Paperback)

This is not it. The fact of the matter is that Alar IS a carcinogen, and long term exposure (an Alar treated apple a day . . .) COULD in fact be harmful. Yes, our media culture--which is sensation driven more than ideology driven--contributed to an unwarranted panic and fear that the pesticide could have short term, immediate impact on children's health, and in that panic schools took extreme measures like removing apples from lunch menus. But the idea that Alar is harmless is nonsense.

We need a good, objective book on the subject of environmental health scares. This isn't it. It might as well have been written by an employee of a pesticide company.