200,000+ to EPA: Keep Science and Strawberries Safe
from Undue Chemical Industry Influence
For immediate release: May
13, 2011
CONTACTS:
Kathryn Gilje, Pesticide Action Network North America, cell 415-235-9437
Paul Towers, Pesticide Watch Education Fund, cell 916-216-1082
Tracey Brieger, Californians for Pesticide Reform, cell 415-215-5473
NEWS RELEASE
200,000+
to EPA: Keep Science and Strawberries Safe
from
Undue Chemical Industry Influence
As national public comment period closes on methyl iodide,
US EPA urged to ban methyl iodide and support green farming
WASHINGTON,
DC—As part of a public comment period closing today, the country’s top
scientists, businesses and over 200,000 members of the public have urged the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson to
prioritize scientific evidence over corporate influence and ban the
cancer-causing pesticide methyl iodide. Methyl iodide, called “one of the most
toxic chemicals on earth” by the country’s top scientists, is promoted by
Arysta LifeScience—the largest privately-held agrochemical company in the world
and manufacturer of the pesticide. Arysta
has hired lobbying and public relations firms, including former Bush
Administration strategist J. Scott Jennings at Peritus Public Relations, to influence
government officials to ignore independent science and secure approval for
methyl iodide nationally and in California, potentially one of the most
lucrative markets in the nation for the pesticide.
A
letter submitted to EPA on May 7, 2011, authored by 39 distinguished
scientists, including three Nobel laureates in Chemistry, notes that methyl
iodide is: “one of the more hazardous
chemicals used in research labs and in the chemical industry, and it seems
counterintuitive that EPA would work on one hand to prevent and document
relatively small releases of methyl iodide used in research and chemical
manufacturing, while permitting what will likely be millions of pounds to be
used annually in agriculture near homes, schools and workplaces.”The
letter concludes that “rigorously conducted analysis indicates
that methyl iodide cannot be used safely as a soil fumigant and serves as a
sound scientific basis for US EPA to cancel all agricultural uses of methyl
iodide.”
“The country’s top scientists have been
outspoken against using methyl iodide in the fields precisely because they know
how dangerous it is,” noted Anne Katten, Pesticide and Work
Safety Specialist with California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation. “When the
scientific community speaks out so strongly on an issue, we should heed their
warnings.”
Methyl
iodide is a carcinogen—scientists use it in labs to create cancer cells—and can cause late term miscarriages and
contaminate water. It is a soil fumigant that would be primarily used in the
nation’s strawberry, tomato and pepper fields. It was approved for agricultural
use by the Bush Administration’s EPA in 2007. Of the few states that conduct
additional scientific review before allowing use of pesticides, both New York
and Washington have refused to approve methyl iodide. California‘s independent
scientific review committee commissioned to examine the science on methyl
iodide concluded in 2010 that agricultural use “…would
result in exposures to a large number of the public and thus would
have a significant adverse impact on the public health,” and “adequate control
of human exposure would be difficult, if not impossible.”
These
strong findings convinced Washington State to refuse approval of methyl iodide,
yet California’s Schwarzenegger Administration approved the pesticide for use
in December 2010, ignoring scientific evidence and the voices of over 50,000
Californians who opposed the registration. California provides 86% of the
strawberries to the US market.
“The science is crystal clear: methyl iodide is
far too dangerous to use in agriculture where it can poison farm workers,
wildlife, and surrounding populations. It is grossly irresponsible of the
EPA to keep this pesticide registered, and that’s why over 97,000 CREDO Action
members submitted public comments asking the agency to revoke its approval,”
said Adam Klaus, Campaign Manager for CREDO Action.
The
EPA’s comment period—which closes at midnight EST today—was initiated in
response to a petition filed in March 2010 by 11 public health, labor,
environment and farmworker advocacy organizations from across the country, who
highlighted the findings of California’s independent scientific review of the
chemical. In response to Senator Dianne Feinstein’s (CA)
request that EPA decision-makers formally reconsider the decision to approve
methyl iodide in August 2010, EPA officials agreed to open a public comment
period, but waited until March 2011 to solicit public input.
Despite the
claims that it would not be possible to grow strawberries without methyl
iodide, organic growers across the state do so successfully every year: there is a
thriving organic strawberry industry in California and around the country. “I’ve been growing strawberries without
using pesticides in California for 25 years,” said Jim Cochran, owner of
Swanton Berry Farm in Davenport, California.“It’s certainly possible to grow commercially-viable and
ecologically sound strawberry crops without using methyl iodide or any other
chemical pesticides.”
Comments
submitted to US EPA are viewable at:http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;dct=FR+PR+N+O+SR+PS;rpp=10;po=0;D=EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0541
# # #
Available
for interviews:
Susan Kegley, Ph.D.,
Consulting Scientist, Pesticide Action Network North America, 510-759-9397, skegley@pesticideresearch.com.
Available after 1 p.m., PDT.
Jeannie Economos, Pesticide Safety and Environmental Health Project
Coordinator, Farmworker
Association of Florida, (407) 886-5151, farmworkerassoc@aol.com.
Paul
Towers, State Director, Pesticide Watch Education Fund, cell 916-216-1082.
Jim
Cochran, Owner, Swanton Berry Farm, (831)
818-3942. Organic strawberry farmer whose employees are under contract with the
United Farm Workers.
