Farmworkers & Environmental Health Organizations File Methyl
Iodide Lawsuit
Coalition
sues California over approval of cancer-causing strawberry pesticide; 52,000 comments
submitted urging Governor Brown to reverse decision
NEWS TELECONFERENCE TODAY, 1:30 pm; Dial:
866-790-1863 (no PIN
required)
SAN FRANCISCO—On Governor
Brown’s first day in office, a coalition of
farmworkers, community advocates and environmental health organizations are announcing
a lawsuit to challenge the state's approval of the cancer-causing strawberry
pesticide methyl iodide. Several of the organizations also submitted comments
from 52,000 members of the public urging him to act quickly to prevent the use
of methyl iodide in California’s fields. A
news teleconference will be held at 1:30pm today; the organizations involved in
the lawsuit will be available for comment.
The
lawsuit was filed late Thursday by Earthjustice and California Rural Legal
Assistance, Inc. on behalf of Pesticide Action Network North America, United
Farm Workers of America, Californians for Pesticide Reform, Pesticide Watch
Education Fund, Worksafe, Communities and Children Advocates Against Pesticide
Poisoning and farmworkers Jose Hidalgo Ramon and Zeferino Estrada.
The
suit challenges the state Department of Pesticide Regulation’s (DPR) December
20 approval of methyl iodide for use in California on the grounds that it
violates the California Environmental Quality Act, the California Birth Defects
Prevention Act, and the Pesticide Contamination Prevention Act that protects
groundwater against pesticide pollution. In addition, the suit contends that DPR
violated the law requiring involvement of the Office of Environmental Health
Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) in the development of farmworker safety regulations
and made an unlawful finding of emergency with its request for Restricted
Materials status for methyl iodide.
“The public has been shocked,
wondering how methyl iodide could be approved under California law. The truth
is that DPR played too fast and loose with their decision,” said Greg Loarie,
Attorney with Earthjustice. “They exceeded their legal authority and have put
the public and farmworkers at great risk of harm.”
In deciding to approve methyl
iodide, DPR shunned the findings of top scientists—including the state’s own
Scientific Review Committee—who have consistently said that the chemical is too
dangerous to be used in agriculture. Upon hearing the decision, Dr. John
Froines, chair of the Committee, told press, "I honestly think that this
chemical will cause disease and illness. And so does everyone else on the
committee."Theodore Slotkin,
another panel member and professor of pharmacology and cancer biology at Duke
University, wrote, "It is my personal opinion that this decision will
result in serious harm to California citizens, and most especially to children.”
“Farmworkers are on the front
lines of methyl iodide use and will suffer the most tragic consequences,” observed
Erik Nicholson, National Vice-President of United Farm Workers. “If this
decision is allowed to stand, strawberries may very well become the new poster
child for giving farmworkers cancer and late term miscarriages.”
Crumbling under pressure from an
intensive pro-methyl-iodide lobbying campaign run by Arysta LifeScience—methyl
iodide’s manufacturer and the largest privately held pesticide company in the
world—DPR fast-tracked the registration process by declaring an “emergency.” DPR’s only stated explanation for the “emergency”
was that it wanted to register methyl iodide on December 20.
“DPR created a political
‘emergency’ by insisting on locking-in its decision before a new administration
takes office – an administration that would follow the science instead of
catering to the largest private agrochemical corporation in the world,” said Mike
Meuter, Attorney at California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. “DPR’s move has no
legal basis: political convenience does not constitute an emergency.”
The ‘emergency’ registration
blocked the otherwise necessary public comment period on the decision, despite
the public’s strong desire for input. Last summer, over 53,000 people urged
California not to legalize the pesticide. Today, an additional 52,000 comments
were submitted by Pesticide Action Network North America, Breast Cancer Action,
CREDO, Food and Water Watch and others urging Governor Brown to reverse the
decision to register methyl iodide.
“We expect Governor Brown to do
much better than his predecessor, whose environmental legacy is defined by
hypocrisy,” said Paul Towers, State Director of Pesticide Watch Education Fund.
“Schwarzenegger’s move to promote the elimination of plastic bags but
approve—on the very same day—the use of one of the most toxic chemicals on
earth in California’s fields has permanently tarnished his environmental
record.”
Methyl iodide causes late term
miscarriages, contaminates groundwater and is so reliably carcinogenic that
it’s used to create cancer cells in laboratories. It is included in
California’s Proposition 65 list of “chemicals known to cause cancer.”The pesticide poses the most direct
risks to farm workers and neighboring communities because of the volume that
would be applied to fields and its tendency to drift off site through the air.
The chemical is approved to be applied to California’s strawberry fields at
rates up to 100 pounds per acre on much of the state’s 38,000 acres in
strawberry production, totaling millions of pounds of use. Though methyl
iodide will likely be used primarily on strawberries, it is also registered for
use on tomatoes, peppers, nurseries and on soils
prior to replanting orchards and vineyards.
“It’s
farmworkers like me who become sick,” said plaintiff Jose Hidalgo. “As
a strawberry picker, I have worked near many pesticide applications. First we
smell the pesticides. Then our eyes burn, our noses run and our throats
hurt. I’m against using methyl iodide because it’s already too dangerous
in the fields, we don’t need new, even more dangerous, toxins.”
“Living
near California’s strawberry fields just became even more deadly,” commented Lynda
Uvari, Founding Board Member of Community and Children’s Advocates Against
Pesticide Poisoning, a community group in Ventura County. “Will Arysta and DPR
be there to help when people in our communities get cancer or lose their
babies?”
“Given
the special susceptibility of adolescents to this developmental toxicant,
methyl iodide poses a special health risk to teenage children working in the
fields or exposed to drift,” declared Lora Jo Foo, Legal Director of Worksafe.
In the last days of the Bush Administration
in 2007, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved methyl iodide
at the national level, ignoring concerns from over 50 eminent
scientists—including six Nobel Laureates in Chemistry—who expressed
astonishment in a letter to U.S. EPA that the agency was “working to legalize
broadcast releases of one of the more toxic chemicals used in manufacturing
into the environment.” Arysta LifeScience pushed to secure registration of the
pesticide in California because it is one of the most lucrative pesticide
markets in the nation. New York and Washington states refused to register
methyl iodide for agricultural purposes.
# # #
News
teleconference TODAY:
Farmworker and environmental health organizations to announce lawsuit and
submission of public comments urging Governor Brown to reverse the decision on
methyl iodide.
Monday, January 3, 2011 – 1:30pm
Dial: 866-790-1863 (no PIN required)
A
recorded playback of the press call will be available by dialing 888-284-7564
(reference number: 2585641).
Jim Cochran, Owner, Swanton Berry
Farm, 831-818-3942.
Spanish
language media: To speak with plaintiff Jose Hidalgo Ramón, please contact
Michael Marsh, Attorney, California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc., 831-757-5221 x 303,
mmarsh@crla.org.
