EPA Approves METHY IODIDE

Monday, October 15, 2007
Posted by Healthy Child

On Friday, October 5th the EPA approved the use of the pesticide methyl iodide, mainly for use in strawberry fields. Methyl iodide is a new, highly toxic fumigant, a neurotoxin and carcinogen that has been linked to thyroid cancers, neurological damage and miscarriages in lab animals.

Methyl iodide will replace methyl bromide, which was banned under an international treaty because it damages the ozone layer. Both are fumigants that are injected into the soil before planting to sterilize the field and kill pests and diseases. Despite the fact that these fumigants leave no residue on crops, they are potentially dangerous because of the toxic gases that evaporate from the soil and can permeate the environment and drift from the immediate area.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson received a letter in September from 54 scientists, including five Nobel laureates, warning that should the pesticide be approved for use, “pregnant women and the fetus, children, the elderly, farmworkers and other people living near application sites would be at serious risk.”

One chemist, Robert Bergman of U.C. Berkeley, was quoted in the Times as saying, “We know this stuff reacts with DNA. It mutates it. So it’s prudent to be as careful as you can with it.” Bergman and the other scientists had requested an independent review by the National Research Council, but their request was rejected by the EPA, which approved methyl iodide for use for the next year, providing farms implement safety measures, such as buffer zones of 25 to 500 feet, to protect workers and neighbors.

The EPA called a four-year review of the chemical “one of the most thorough analyses ever completed on a new pesticide.” The review was conducted by Tokyo-based Arysta LifeScience Corporation, which manufactures the pesticide under the name Midas. Arysta’s former chief executive, Elin Miller, is now the administrator of the northwest region of the EPA.

Use of the pesticide in California must be approved by the Department of Pesticide Regulation, which often imposes tighter restrictions than the EPA. Click here to find a phone or email contact for the Department.