The Banned Pesticide in Our Soil

[nosmokes]

original

In the 1990s, the world agreed to stop fumigating with methyl bromide. So why are so many US farmers still using it?

The Banned Pesticide in Our Soil

by Alison McCook

FOR YEARS, COMMERCIAL GROWERS have been using methyl bromide to strip their soil of pathogens that impede plant growth. Colorless, odorless, cheap to make (often formed as a byproduct of other bromide manufacturing processes) and relatively easy to use, methyl bromide is an incredibly effective fumigant, whose tiny molecules disperse quickly and efficiently throughout the soil. It wipes out the vast majority of soil pests so well that when it was introduced, farmers practically abandoned all other options. They simply inject the gas 30 to 60 centimeters below the soil surface, often planting a few days later.
"A lot of energy and effort has gone into defending CUEs rather than implementing alternatives."
Perfect? No. Unfortunately, the reasons that methyl bromide works so well also account for its harmful effects. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the chemical spreads so easily that up to 95% of the methyl bromide injected into soil eventually makes its way into the atmosphere. There, in high concentrations, it can cause a wide range of health effects, such as failure of the central nervous and respiratory systems. A 2003 study by the National Cancer Institute of male pesticide applicators found that those who handled methyl bromide had a higher risk of prostate cancer.
The bigger problem with methyl bromide is the damage it causes high above our heads, where its splintered bromine atoms help destroy the ozone layer. If growers continue to use the chemical, as they do in large quantities in the United States, methyl bromide could be responsible for as much as 15% of future ozone depletion, according to the EPA. Despite these risks, and a global agreement to ban the chemical, some say US growers want to greedily hold on to methyl bromide because it works so well at a relatively low cost. Now, growers who successfully operate without methyl bromide say they have been threatened by other growers to keep silent. "There's never been an issue as big as this," says Donald Dickson of the University of Florida (UF) at Gainesville, who's studied pesticides for 35 years.
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complete articlehere

[meganmonkey]

1. This shit is B.A.D. bad

And this is scary:

"growers who successfully operate without methyl bromide say they have been threatened by other growers to keep silent."

[acmejack]

2. "In the 1990s, the world agreed to stop fumigating with methyl bromide."

"So why are so many US farmers still using it?" I was intrigued so I asked John Bolton:

Easy, the US obeys the laws that it chooses to, exactly like it's rulers. We'll not be deprived of our ability to function in a robust manner by artificial limitations imposed upon us by the contrarians at the UN, what's good for the World is not necessarily what is good for America! These quaint laws can be regarded as dated and inoperative in this post 9/11 environment. And IF YOU DON"T LIKE THAT, I'M SORRY!

[meganmonkey]

3. I'm gonna give this a little

kick!