From
Sacbee.com
Last Updated 10:33 am PDT
Saturday, September 29, 2007
The agency said previously that a decision would be announced by Friday about
methyl iodide, also called iodomethane. But in an unexpected move, it said
officials "will address recent questions prompted by the pending registration of
iodomethane."
The EPA received a letter this week from 54 scientists, including six Nobel
Prize winners, who said they were astonished EPA was considering approving such
a toxic chemical for agricultural use.
"The gratifying thing is that EPA has been responsive to people who are really
concerned about this," said Robert Bergman, a
The fumigant was developed to replace the highly effective fumigant methyl
bromide, which is banned by an international treaty because it depletes the
earth's ozone layer. Both fumigants are injected into soil before planting and
do not leave a residue on the produce itself. Critics have cited cases where
fumigant fumes escaped from soil and harmed farmworkers or nearby residents.
"EPA's analysis of iodomethane is one of the most thorough analyses ever
completed on a pesticide and we welcome the opportunity to allow interested
parties a better understanding of the scientific analysis supporting the
evaluation," said the brief statement from EPA Assistant Administrator James
Gulliford.
EPA spokesman Dale Kemery would not elaborate on the decision nor provide any
new timetable for the agency's decision.
The registration would have allowed farm use of MIDAS, a new fumigant containing
methyl iodide and developed by Tokyo-based Arysta Life Science Corp., to kill
insects, weeds and soil-borne diseases that affect a wide range of crops such as
tomatoes, strawberries, peppers and eggplant.
It was the second time EPA has hedged on methyl iodide. Last year, after
"There's been enough controversy over this chemical that they should seriously
consider never registering it at all," said Susan Kegley, senior scientist for
the Pesticide Action Network of North America.
Critics said use of methyl iodide is complicated by its combination with
chloropicrin, another soil fumigant that sickened some 125 farm workers who
breathed it on Thursday near