US groups urge methyl bromide ban
On June 10, the US House of Representatives Agriculture Committee held a hearing on the deadly, ozone-depleting pesticide methyl bromide. Critics charge that the hearing was biased and the committee prevented farmers, environmentalists and labour leaders who oppose this pesticide from testifying.
The US is scheduled to ban methyl bromide in January 2001 under the federal Clean Air Act. However, five of the six experts who testified at the hearing oppose this ban and support continued use of the fumigant.
Also at the hearing, Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson Paul Stolpman stated that the Clinton administration has "consistently expressed a willingness to consider targeted legislative changes" to postpone the ban.
During the hearing, environmental, labour and community organisations delivered a letter urging Congress to maintain the 2001 ban on methyl bromide. The letter was signed by 50 organisations, including the Sierra Club, United Farm Workers/AFL-CIO, Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The letter stated that research and demonstration trials have shown that many environmentally friendly alternatives to methyl bromide exist and are already in use.
Methyl bromide, a pesticide used to grow strawberries, tomatoes and other crops, is directly toxic to people and also depletes the Earth's protective ozone layer.
EPA classifies methyl bromide as a Category I acute toxin, the most deadly category of substances. From 1982 to 1993, 454 cases of methyl bromide poisoning were reported to California physicians, and thousands of residents were evacuated because of accidents with the pesticide.
In September 1997, 163 countries agreed to phase out methyl bromide under the Montreal Protocol treaty because of the pesticide's contribution to ozone depletion. Scientists have identified viable alternatives for more than 90% of methyl bromide uses.
[From Pesticide Action Network North America Updates Service.]