Fwd: PANUPS: Action Alert: Stop Increased Use of Methyl Bromide

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PANUPS: Action Alert: Stop Increased Use of Methyl Bromide

Tue, 11 Nov 2003 14:47:53 -0800

 

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P A N U P S

Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

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Action Alert: Stop Increased Use of Methyl Bromide

 

November 11, 2003

 

Dangerous proposals to expand use of methyl bromide, a highly toxic and ozone

depleting fumigant pesticide, are moving forward in California and in the U.S.

Congress, representing serious backsliding away from protective public health

and environmental standards.

 

This Alert explains the California situation, and urges you to send a letter to

California Department of Pesticide Regulations (CA DPR) by the close of their

comment period, November 18, 2003. If you are near enough, please also attend

one of three public hearings on methyl bromide scheduled in the state, in

Sacramento (1 pm, November 14), Ventura (1 pm, November 15) or Salinas (6 pm

November 17). We will present the federal situation and ask for your help in

stopping the proposed roll-back of U.S. methyl bromide limits under the

international Montreal Protocol in the near future.

 

Methyl bromide is an acutely toxic and highly volatile reproductive and nervous

system toxicant. Animal studies indicate that methyl bromide causes birth

defects, repeated exposures cause neurobehavioral problems, and higher exposure

levels can permanently damage the nervous system. A 2002 study of prostate

cancer among more than 55,000 agricultural workers and professional pesticide

applicators singled out methyl bromide for its increased prostate cancer risk,

particularly related to higher exposures. In areas of California with high

methyl bromide use (including Santa Cruz, Monterey and Ventura counties), many

residents report chronic headaches, severe asthma attacks, nausea, sore throats

and dry cough during methyl bromide season.

 

CA DPR has proposed methyl bromide field fumigation regulations that increase

so-called " acceptable " exposure levels and keep workers and residents in rural

communities at risk. In 2000, CA DPR adopted methyl bromide field fumigation

regulations without addressing sub-chronic, or longer term, repeated, exposures.

After several lawsuits brought by PANNA and other organizations, CA DPR has been

forced to reissue their methyl bromide regulations.

 

CA DPR claims that the new regulations will improve protection from long-term

methyl bromide exposure. In reality, CA DPR's proposed regulations raise

so-called " acceptable " sub-chronic methyl bromide exposure limits nine fold for

children (from 1 ppb to 9 ppb) and eight fold for adult workers (from 2 ppb to

16 ppb). These relaxed exposure limits are based on a controversial

interpretation of a 2002 study conducted by the methyl bromide manufacturers.

Pesticide hazard evaluation experts at California's Office of Environmental

Health Hazard Assessment concluded that this study was highly flawed and

recommended keeping the more protective 1 ppb sub-chronic exposure limit.

 

Truly protective regulations should incorporate monthly township limits on

methyl bromide use and increase required buffer zones to achieve safe air

levels. CA DPR's own staff analysis in 2001 showed that monthly township use

limits on methyl bromide use were needed to reduce air levels below 1 ppb.

Without such limits, air levels at La Joya Elementary School in Salinas were 3.8

(ppb) in 2002 and 2.8 (ppb) in 2001, and Pajaro Middle School in Watsonville

levels were 7.7 (ppb) in 2000 and 3.0 (ppb) in 2001, for example.

 

The proposed CA DPR regulations would also give individual county Agricultural

Commissioners authority to approve even less protective buffer zones than those

set by CA DPR if " the county agricultural commissioner determines, based on

other information, that the methyl bromide application will assure equal or less

exposure. " County Agricultural Commissioners do not have the capacity to make

such assessments accurately, and should not be given this authority.

 

The new regulations also rely on respirators to reduce fumigation workers'

exposure during pesticide application and tarp repair. Yet CA DPR's respirator

regulations are weaker than those set by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health

Administration and the proposed regulations, and allow use of respirator

cartridges that have not been evaluated by any government agency.

 

Methyl bromide is not the only dangerous fumigant in wide use in the state.

Repeated drift episodes have sickened hundreds of rural residents in California,

pointing to the urgent need for strong controls on all fumigants, including

chloropicrin, metam sodium and metam potassium. Rather than relax methyl bromide

regulations, the state should work to reduce dependence on all fumigants,

because they are highly toxic, applied in large quantities, require highly

complicated and error prone use procedures and as gases, are inherently hard to

control.

 

Action Alert: Contact CA DPR and tell them to go back to the drawing board and

issue truly health protective regulations for methyl bromide that will:

 

-- Reduce sub-chronic exposures level to1 ppb utilizing township use-limits and

buffer zones.

-- Ensure County Agricultural Commissioners do not reduce buffer zones.

-- Adopt tougher respirator standards to protect workers.

-- Reduce dependence on fumigants and encourage safer alternatives.

 

To submit comments or attend public hearings: visit the DPR website

http://www.cdpr.ca.gov, click on " Laws and Regulations " , then " Proposed

Regulations. " Comments can be emailed to dpr03004, faxed to

916-324-1452 or mailed to Linda Irokawa-Otani, CDPR, 1001 I Street, PO Box 4015,

Sacramento, CA 95812.

 

Public Hearings:

 

Sacramento

1 pm, November 14, 2003

Coastal Hearing Room

Cal/EPA Bldg, 1001 I St.

Preceded by 10 am informational workshop

 

Ventura

1 pm, November 15, 2003

Gem and Mineral Bldg.

Seaside Park

10 West Harbor Blvd.

 

Salinas

6 pm, November 17, 2003

Sherwood Hall

Salinas Community Center

950 North Main Street

 

Sources: Final report: Methyl Bromide Ambient Air Monitoring in Oxnard/Camarillo

and Santa Maria, August--October, 2001, Applied Measurement Science,

http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/empm/pubs/tac/tacpdfs/rpt_0402.pdf; Ambient Air

Monitoring for Methyl Bromide and 1,3-Dichloropropene in Monterey/Santa Cruz

Counties- Reports for Fall of 2000 and Fall of 2001, California Air Resources

Board, http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/empm/pubs/tac/tacpdfs/mthdic13.pdf;

Secondhand Pesticides, Airborne Pesticide Drift in California, 2003, PANNA,

California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (CRLA), Pesticide Education Center,

Californians for Pesticide Reform (CPR) http://www.panna.org; Use of

Agricultural Pesticides and Prostate Cancer Risk in the Agricultural Health,

Michael C. R. Alavanja, Claudine Samanic, Mustafa Dosemeci, et al, American

Journal of Epidemiology, October, 2002; Fact Sheet: Methyl Bromide Use in

California, PANNA.

 

Contact: PANNA, CPR, phone (415) 981 2727, email pests, Web site,

http://www.pesticidereform.org, CRLAF, (916) 446-7904 ext 19.

 

PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and reporting on

pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the mainstream media. It's

produced by Pesticide Action Network North America, a non-profit and

non-governmental organization working to advance sustainable alternatives to

pesticides worldwide.

 

You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations for our work and all

contributions are tax deductible in the United States. Visit

http://www.panna.org/donate.

 

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http://www.panna.org/resources/panups.html

 

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Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA)

49 Powell St., Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA

Phone: (415) 981-1771

Fax: (415) 981-1991

Email: panna

Web: http://www.panna.org

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