Arsenic in Apple Juice and the Sky is Falling

Yes, arsenic in apple juice is a problem, but not so much as the TV doctors would have you believe. A real Toxicoligist dismisses the absurdity.

Courtesy: blog.fooducate.com

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - A couple of TV doctors started bleating about the DANGER of arsenic and apple juice as if it were a new hazard. I don't know if my experience as a toxicologist will calm the waters or not, but I am going to try anyway.

Arsenic mostly as lead arsenate, has been used in the United States as an insecticide for apples since about 1890. The first use as a pesticide was as copper arsenate, about 1860, against the Colorado Potato Beetle. It was soon after used against the Coddling Moth which thrived on apples.

Lead arsenate was sprayed on apple trees several times during the growing season. The moths and their larvae eat the poison on the apple and it kills them. The sprays are meant to adhere to the apple sites but especially in the calyx which is the part after the blossom. The lead arsenate also adheres to all parts of the tree per the use of special ingredients. These procedures were very effective in destroying the moth and larvae and producing unblemished, good sized apples. Immediately from the time lead arsenate was used, about 1890; arsenic was found in all parts of the apple products, mom's apple pie included.

Lead arsenate was used by the ton. In 1929, the U.S. consumption was 29 million pounds, or about 10,000 tons. In 1944, the peak year, it was 86 million pounds.

Lead arsenate photo courtesy: Wash. State Univ.

In Virginia alone, a leading apple growing state, in 20 years of peak apple production, 77,000 tons of lead arsenate were used.

It was gradually replaced by DDT, benzene hexachloride, and some other similar very toxic chemicals.

These were replaced about 1950, by the organic phosphate nerve poisons, which are about the most toxic, most dangerous chemicals ever produced by man. Actually, black leaf 40, which is pure nicotine from tobacco waste products, was used in some of the years around 1940. It also was highly toxic and if a person inhales some of the spray, or it is spilled on him, it is almost certain death. Lead arsenate does not have this horrible hazard.

if you are asking what makes this dude think he knows so much about it, here is my background. Hood River, Oregon is one of the premier apple growing places in the United States. My grandfather owned one of the biggest apple orchards, and it is probable that he used thousands of pounds of lead arsenate and his farm workers were massively exposed to it. It certainly got on their hands, and it is probably that they ate lead arsenate with their supper. They all lived to ripe old ages. I worked in many of the orchards, we were called appleknockers, if there were a serious medical condition rising about these appleknockers, nobody around here ever heard of it.

Don't get me wrong about arsenic! It is one of the classic homicidal poisons. Arsenic oxide is a pale grayish white substance with a slightly sweetish taste. It looks just like well cooked oatmeal, and that was a favorite means of dispensing it in breakfast. It is a terrible poison with burning in the mouth, stomach and intestines, with severe pain, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle cramps, shock, paralysis and death. This is not what happens when eating apples or spraying trees with lead arsenate.

What I have tried to point out, is the relative safety of apple juice, even with its arsenic. Actually, the presence of sugar in the juice is much more harmful, producing obesity and rotten teeth, both of which are far more harmful in the long run.

Yes, arsenic in apple juice is a problem, but not so much as the TV doctors would have you believe.

Dr. Phillip Leveque has degrees in chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology and minors in physiology and biochemistry. He was a Professor of Pharmacology, employed by the University of London for 2 years, during which time he trained the first doctors in Tanzania. After training doctors, he became an Osteopathic Physician, as well as a Forensic Toxicologist.

More information on the history of Dr. Leveque can be found in his book, General Patton's Dogface Soldier of WWII about his own experiences "from a foxhole". Order the book by mail by following this link: DOGFACE SOLDIER OF WWII If you are a World War II history buff, you don't want to miss it.

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