Lethal Pesticide by Liora Leah

Lethal Pesticide by Liora Leah .....

TAKE ACTION! Methyl iodide is a chemical that EPA is now evaluating for registration as a replacement for the fumigant methyl bromide, which is being phased out because it causes ozone depletion in the atmosphere. Methyl iodide and methyl bromide are highly volatile fumigant pesticides that are injected into the soil at rates of 100-400 pounds per acre to kill soil-borne pests. Because of the high application rates and gaseous nature of these chemicals, they drift away from the application site to poison neighbors and farmworkers. Fumigant-intensive crops include tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, tobacco, melons, potatoes and other root crops. (Information from Pesticide Action Network North America-PANNA)

Date: 1/29/2006 4:21:14 AM ( 18 y ago)

UNITED FARM WORKERS

Can you believe they say Methyl Iodide is safe?

Stop the Registration: Send your comment to EPA before February 5: http://www.ufwaction.org/campaign/methyliodide?rk=s715%2ds61ycWCE

The Montreal Protocol, a 1992 commitment by the world's nations to phase out methyl bromide--one of the five deadly pesticides targeted by Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers--gave hope that farm workers and others would finally stop being put at risk by this deadly pesticide. Unfortunately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not only backpeddling on this, but is also facilitating the chemical industry and agribusiness efforts to introduce methyl iodide, a fumigant that may be even more hazardous to human health than methyl bromide. The state of California lists it as a carcinogen under Proposition 65.

EPA found that methyl iodide caused thyroid tumors--and introduced a previously unheard-of cancer ranking of "Not likely to be carcinogenic to humans at doses that do not alter rat thyroid hormone homeostasis." The EPA's Cancer Assessment Review Committee used only a single study to come to this conclusion—in which 62-66% of the rats in both the control and the high dose group died during the experiment. In addition to thyroid tumors, the study showed significant changes in thyroid hormone levels, which are closely tied to metabolic disorders.

According to Pesticide Action Network, if methyl iodide is injected into soil as a fumigant, even tarps can not stop it from escaping into the open air and endangering nearby farmworkers and communities. The EPA recommends that workers handling methyl iodide be required to wear respirators, and that buffer zones the size of several football fields may be necessary to keep the poisonous gas from drifting into nearby communities. But on many farms, agricultural workers are regularly denied basic safety equipment, and growers have objected strenuously to buffer zones of any size. Under actual agricultural conditions, methyl iodide cannot be safely used.

In recent years, researchers and farmers have made great progress in improving the productivity and cost effectiveness of growing crops without fumigants. Studies at the University of California at Davis comparing organic strawberry fields to fumigated plots found that the organic fields actually enjoyed higher yields, and both methods produced a profit. Studies in many countries in Europe, Latin America and other regions are finding successful alternatives as well.

Take Action today and call on the EPA to deny registration of methyl iodide for use as a soil fumigant: http://www.ufwaction.org/campaign/methyliodide?rk=s715%2ds61ycWCE

Thanks for taking action!

Buy and eat organic produce!

Liora Leah

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United Farm Workers: http://www.ufw.org
Sign up for United Farm Workers:

http://www.ufwaction.org/ufw/join.html?community=f

Pesticide Action Network North America: http://www.panna.org

Read More about Methyl Iodide: http://panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20060124.dv.html

Background info: PAN article "Why EPA Should Not Register Methyl Iodide" http://www.panna.org/campaigns/driftMeI.html

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When I first read this, my eyes widened, my mouth fell open and a gasp of horror escaped my lips: young adults, in a closed room, subjected to breathing in poison. Poison shot up their noses and into their eyes. Poison, known to cause nervous system damage, swallowed. NO, this is not some scene out of Dante's Inferno or the death camps of the Nazi Third Reich. These are experiments approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to test pesticides on human subjects.

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