For the inland residents of the Jersey Shore, the cranberry was as important to their livelihood as clams, oysters and tourists were to their coastal counterparts. This industry was dealt a nearly fatal blow when on Nov. 9, 1959, Arthur S. Flemming the U.S. secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, told Americans not to buy cranberries because a shipment from the Pacific Northwest had been found to contain a pesticide that had caused cancer in laboratory rats.

While many attacked Flemming for condemning an entire industry for the problems of a few, others began to question the…