The amazing Wikipedia is ever-evolving, but as of January 24, 2007, its entry on daminozide, the chemical more commonly known as Alar, concludes with this passage:
Elizabeth Whelan and her organization, the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), worked to establish a narrative of the Alar episode as a scare. The ACSH claimed that Alar and its breakdown product UDMH had not been shown to be carcinogenic. Whelan's campaign was so effective that today, "Alar scare" is shorthand among news media and food industry professionals for an irrational, emotional public scare based on propaganda rather than facts.