Neighbors, farmworkers ask EPA to ban use of fumigant in California strawberry fields
Associated Press
The Washington Post
05/13/2011
When Annette Danzer and her husband moved into a house surrounded by brush and strawberry fields on California’s Central Coast, they were drawn by the rural feel and closeness to nature.
Three years later, the couple fears the fields near Salinas could become a health threat due to potential use of the pesticide methyl iodide.
California regulators approved use of methyl iodide in December despite opposition from scientists and environmental and farmworker groups who claim it’s highly toxic and can cause cancer. The chemical would likely be used primarily in California’s $2 billion strawberry industry, which last year produced nearly 90 percent of the nation’s strawberries on over 37,000 acres.
Danzer and her husband have moved their 10-year-old son, Luke, out of a nearby elementary school because it’s close to fields that could be fumigated, and Danzer joined hundreds of thousands of others in submitting comments or signatures to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding a petition seeking to block use of the chemical. The deadline to comment on the petition, filed by the environmental group Earthjustice, is Friday, but it’s unclear whether the EPA will take any action.
“We are really concerned about methyl iodide,” said Danzer, who now drives her son 45 minutes to another school. “This is not just strictly a farmworker issue. The fields are walking distance to homes and schools. The fields are in our watershed.”
In April, 38 California legislators — led by Democratic Assemblyman Bill Monning of Monterey— sent a letter asking the EPA to pull the chemical off the market and reopen its scientific evaluation. They cited scientists who found “there is no safe level of use for methyl iodide” for workers and rural residents. It’s not considered a risk for consumers because it’s injected into the soil to kill pests before crops are planted and not applied directly to fruits and vegetables.
“I have the utmost respect for the challenges of our grower community faces,” Monning said. “But my fear is that this chemical is so unstable and so toxic, it’s not a question of whether there will be a tragic accident, the question is when.”
Last month, Ventura County officials withdrew the state’s first permit for the fumigant a day after granting it to an Oxnard-area farmer. County officials said the permit was withdrawn after they learned the farmer’s fields were less than a half-mile from a playground.
Gov. Jerry Brown has also said his administration would take “a fresh look” at state regulators’ decision to approve the fumigant.
The EPA first approved methyl iodide in 2007 as a replacement for another fumigant, methyl bromide, which is being phased out by international treaty because it depletes the Earth’s ozone layer. Methyl iodide is now registered in 47 other states. The chemical kills bugs, weeds and plant diseases and is used by some growers of tomatoes, peppers and other crops.
A range of scientists agreed on the toxicity of methyl iodide during California’s review of the fumigant. When California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation registered the chemical, it overruled its staff’s scientific review and one by an external scientific panel. Those scientists concluded that use of the fumigant would result in acute public health risks because tests on rats and rabbits have shown that airborne exposure to the chemical causes thyroid cancer, miscarriages and damage to the nervous system. Scientists also found it can pollute air and water.
