Replacing Poison with Poison

February 7, 2006

Stop the Registration of Methyl Iodide!

January 24, 2006

The 1992 commitment by the world's nations to phase out methyl bromide under the

Montreal Protocol was an historic opportunity to transition agricultural

production to non-chemical and biodiversity-friendly soil and pest management.

Researchers and farmers alike took on the task of finding ways to grow

strawberries, tomatoes, and other crops without chemicals that endanger the

earth's protective ozone layer. Unfortunately, the United States has been

back-peddling on this commitment for several years, and now the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is facilitating a chemical industry and

agribusiness effort to introduce an even more severely toxic fumigant, methyl

iodide.

Both methyl bromide and methyl iodide are fumigants, gas pesticides injected

into soils to kill all living things before a field is planted. " This is an

archaic, unsustainable approach, " remarked Pesticide Action Network's Senior

Scientist Dr. Susan Kegley. " We know so much more now about soil pests, plant

pathology and plant breeding than when fumigants were first introduced in the

1920s. EPA should be helping farmers move into the future by expanding the use

of new integrated pest management techniques, not replacing one deadly chemical

with another. " Kegley also points out that fumigation is an inherently risky

technology that endangers farm workers, contaminates groundwater, and threatens

schools and communities surrounding fumigated fields. With new techniques,

however, some organic farms can produce even greater yields per acre than fields

treated with fumigants.

Pesticide Action Network North America. 2005. Why EPA Should Not Register Methyl

Iodide.

Caroline Collard

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