Despite protests, EPA set to approve new toxic fumigant

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected within days to approve a new toxic fumigant for use by fruit and vegetable farmers, despite opposition from California regulators, prominent scientists and environmental and farmworker groups.

The agency intends to register methyl iodide as a substitute for the pesticide methyl bromide, which is being phased out by international treaty, according to government officials familiar with the decision. The new product is MIDAS, a methyl iodide compound manufactured by Tokyo-based Arysta LifeScience Corp.

Its EPA approval is due by Friday, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the decision publicly.

EPA spokesman Dale Kemery said only that a decision will be announced later this week.

Anticipating EPA's approval, 54 scientists and physicians are urging EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to block the move for health-related reasons or to permit a panel of independent scientists to scrutinize EPA's safety analysis. They include six chemistry Nobel Prize winners.

"We are concerned that pregnant women and the unborn fetus, children, the elderly, farmworkers and other people living near application sites would be at serious risk" from fumigated fields, the group said in a letter to Johnson. They described the newer fumigant as "one of the more toxic chemicals used in manufacturing."

The deadly fumigant is injected into the soil to kill pests before planting tomatoes, strawberries and other crops in agricultural states like California and Florida. It is not applied directly to fruits and vegetables, so experts do not contend consumers are at risk from eating crops where the fumigant is used.

EPA's analysis evaluated possible buffer zones around fields and concluded that bystander exposure would not be significant. It said farmworkers could protect themselves sufficiently with respirators.

Internal documents obtained by The Associated Press indicate use of the fumigant may be approved on an interim basis and later reviewed after new safety restrictions are set for a group of fumigants already in use.

California is conducting its own review and would have to approve methyl iodide before farmers there could use it, said Glenn Brank, spokesman for the state Department of Pesticide Regulation.

"It's extremely toxic," Brank said. "We are concerned about whether or not this can be used safely."