You would think we had enough toxic chemicals flowing into our environment these days.
To my amazement, California is poised to approve the use of methyl iodide as a pesticide, a chemical so toxic that merely breathing it can cause lung, liver, kidney and central nervous system damage. The San Francisco Chronicle has an article that has researchers lining up against this toxic chemical.
Susan Kegley, a consulting scientist for Pesticide Action Network, a nonprofit public interest group in San Francisco, said approving methyl iodide would be a flirtation with disaster no matter how many safeguards are in place.
"This stuff just kills everything," said Kegley, a chemist, who pointed out that even low doses have caused neurological damage and fetal death in laboratory animals. "It is a known carcinogen."
That doesn't sound like the sort of thing you want in your strawberry jam.
Unsurprisingly methyl iodide was approved under the Bush administration by the EPA despite strenuous objections from 50 scientists, including 5 Nobel Laureates. This is a super-toxic chemical that researchers give a lot of lab respect to with double gloves, syringes, fume hoods and dedicated ventilation devices.
Evidentially growers want to spray this on strawberries because they are particularly susceptible to pests. This seems like insanity to me, because in the Tri-Valley area where I live, there are sweet, ripe organic or pesticide-free strawberries aplenty from Brentwood, Livermore and Hayward. This just does not make any sense.
Evidentially the California Department of Pesticide conducted not one but TWO studies both confirming that methyl iodide poses a significant risk to human health - and they want to allow injection of this toxic chemical directly into soil.
"This is one of these chemicals that chemists give great respect to," Kegley said. "Allowing releases into the soil by farmers and others without training in safe handling techniques is ludicrous."
What you can do:
Californians for Pesticide Reform have actions concerned Californians (and strawberry jam lovers) can take:
- Sign an online petition
- Call California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at 916-445-2841 and tell him not to register methyl iodide.
I have one more: contact the California Department of Pesticide Regulation and tell them to keep this poison out of our soil.