Methyl Bromide

I'm writing concerning the article "Pesticide Ban Sows Frustration Among Farmers," March 18. Let me begin by stating that I am involved with the strawberry industry in Ventura County and the methyl bromide issue will have direct financial impact on me. I'm not sure if the impact will be positive or negative in the long run, and I don't think anyone else really knows. The only thing sure is that without methyl bromide strawberries are just one of the many crops that are going to cost more to grow and therefore purchase.

California strawberry farmers may soon have a new pesticide to use on their fields. The state's Department of Pesticide Regulation is recommending approving use of the soil fumigant methyl iodide. However, scientists say that methyl iodide is very toxic and can cause cancer, brain damage and miscarriages. An independent panel of scientists, invited to review the health FOR THE RECORD: Pesticide: An article in Monday's Health section on the debate over a pesticide that may be approved for use on strawberry crops said that molecular biologist Edward Loechler works at Brandeis University.

Regarding the response to "Risks of Pesticide Debated" from James F. Glass (Sept. 1, Letters to the Valley Edition): His confident assertion that "methyl bromide is a boon to humanity" reeks of chemical industry propaganda and seems to be based on a market-oriented state of humanity. Pesticides in general are a boon to agribusinesses while causing havoc in the ecosystem, from which humanity is apparently displaced, according to Glass. Science is just beginning to understand the effects on many species (including ours)

A criminal prosecution against a Central Valley nut farmer accused of poisoning a worker with methyl bromide unraveled this week after a defense investigation concluded that the toxic soil fumigant had not caused Arturo Becerra's ailments. The case against Ripon, Calif.-based Golden West Nuts, its co-owner, ranch manager and foreman, was the first criminal pesticide prosecution of a California company in 14 years, and was closely watched throughout the agricultural industry.

Gov. Pete Wilson on Tuesday signed into law permission for California growers to continue using the powerful soil fumigant methyl bromide through December 1997, despite concerns about the pesticide's safety. The Republican governor, flanked by legislators representing agricultural districts and top farm lobbyists, said, "There was an urgent and grave need to act on this matter." A ban on the use of methyl bromide was scheduled to take effect at the end of the month.

Prompted by the death of a 36-year-old Toluca Lake woman who was apparently poisoned during a fumigation, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday asked the state to impose new restrictions on the use of methyl bromide. The pesticide attacks the central nervous and respiratory systems, causing dizziness, vomiting and disorientation. In the last 13 years, methyl bromide has been blamed for 18 deaths in the state.

State pesticide regulators have imposed an indefinite stay on plans to fumigate an east Ventura strawberry field with methyl bromide. Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail had denied the request of 30 people living near Montalvo Ranch's 76-acre strawberry field to revoke the company's permit.

State pesticide regulators decided Thursday to hold a public review next week for residents concerned about the use of the pesticide methyl bromide on strawberry fields in Ventura and Camarillo. There will be separate meetings on Tuesday for each city's residents, but both will be held in the cafeteria of Buena High School, 5670 Telegraph Road, Ventura. The meeting for those who reside near the Montalvo Ranch strawberry field in Ventura will begin at 6 p.m.

A citizens "summit" staged Sunday by a grass-roots coalition of activists called for banning methyl bromide, a pesticide widely used in Orange County and elsewhere in the state to sterilize fields for growing strawberries. "The widespread use of methyl bromide is a stealth war being waged with a poison gas against unsuspecting citizens," said Donald Tollefson, an activist and lawyer from Encino. Tollefson urged people to sign petitions imploring California Atty. Gen.

Operating under an expanded buffer zone, a Camarillo strawberry farmer can inject the toxic pesticide methyl bromide into a field 100 feet from a mobile home park, state regulators ruled Friday. The state Department of Pesticide Regulation notified residents of the Lamplighter Mobile Home Park late Friday that grower Charles Nakama can fumigate his field adjacent to the park. But the usual buffer zone between residents' property lines and the fumigated parcel was expanded from 30 feet to 100.

The United States has stockpiled millions of pounds of methyl bromide, a pesticide that depletes the ozone layer, according to newly public documents -- information that could create a stir during international negotiations next month, when the Bush administration seeks permission to produce more. Methyl bromide has been banned for almost two years under the United Nations' Montreal Protocol.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has withdrawn its plan to approve a highly toxic fumigant for strawberries and other high-value crops after California officials, labor unions, environmentalists and others objected that nearby residents and farmworkers could be in danger. The new pesticide, methyl iodide, is designed to replace methyl bromide, which is banned under an international treaty because it damages the Earth's ozone layer.

Fourteen years ago, as chemicals gobbled up the Earth's ozone layer, an international treaty ordered a phaseout of a popular pesticide for strawberries and other high-value crops. Now, U.S. officials are poised to replace it with a new pesticide -- one that is highly toxic and has been declared a cancer-causing chemical by the state of California.

When toxic fumigant sprayed Arturo Becerra across the face, his vision blurred, his skin tingled and "it felt like my eyes were going to pop out of my head." It was the second time the brittle hose had ruptured in the almond orchard in as many days, Becerra told agricultural investigators. But his supervisor ordered him to patch the sprayer and get back to applying methyl bromide, a soil pesticide that can cause irreversible neurological damage and death.

Tosha Cooper had never seen anything like the beetle creeping past her office at the Rox Pro warehouse in the Sacramento suburbs. It was black with white spots and inch-long antennae, she said, and was "as long as my index finger." Worried that it might have come from crates just arrived from China, she searched the Internet for "black spotted beetle china." "As soon as I got it, a pest alert popped up that said to contact authorities immediately," she said.

A Hollister pesticide company has agreed to pay a $15,000 fine and spend a year on probation for violating state laws while using methyl bromide on a Healdsburg vineyard. The Sonoma County district attorney's office said it reached the settlement with Trical Inc. after an eight-month investigation into charges that the pesticide drifted into another vineyard and made people sick.

As protesters organized for a final stand, an east Ventura farmer Tuesday canceled fumigation of a strawberry field near dozens of homes where residents last year complained they were sickened by drifting methyl bromide vapors. Grower Raul Garcia agreed not to apply the potent pesticide this season to an 87-acre field at Ralston Street and Ramelli Avenue, according to sources familiar with negotiations between Garcia and nearby homeowners.

Despite protests from nearby residents concerned about health risks, the methyl bromide fumigation of a Camarillo strawberry field is scheduled to begin today at 6:30 a.m. Hot weather postponed the application of the pesticide on Tuesday. "When the inversion layer gets too low, you don't get good air mix and movement," said Earl McPhail, Ventura County's agricultural commissioner. "Even though the field is tarped, we like to have good air flow."

The phasing out of one of the nation's most widely used pesticides will begin taking a bite out of California's strawberry business this year, experts say, raising costs, lowering yields and giving Mexican imports a competitive advantage. Researchers at UC Davis estimate that California's nearly $850-million strawberry industry, which produces most of the nation's crop, will lose 20% of its production with the ban on the fumigant methyl bromide.

Citing a variety of failings, a panel of federal scientists Friday criticized a Davis administration plan aimed at protecting schoolchildren, farm workers and others who come in contact with the toxic pesticide methyl bromide. In a bluntly worded report, experts of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that the state's own analysis was "lacking in several respects," including examinations of situations that may expose children to the controversial chemical.