Many other food scares based solely on high-dose animal studies would follow, involving nitrite in bacon, the artificial sweetener saccharin, and most notably, the chemical Alar, which was used in regulating the growth of apples. An important catalyst in the 1959 cranberry scare was the Delaney Clause, a 1958 amendment to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act that banned from food any artificial substance that could be shown to cause cancer in lab animals.
Human physiology is significantly different from the physiologies of mice, rats, and other species.
A Review of the Greatest Unfounded Health Scares of Recent Times. The American Council on Science and Health is a nonprofit, tax exempt consumer education organization, directed and advised by over 250 physicians and scientists.