Caveat eater: Strawberries are about to get more toxic

[Kadie]

Caveat eater: Strawberries are about to get more toxic

Ever wondered exactly how powerful the biggest corporate lobbies are? In Washington, note that Republicans support suspected terrorists' "right" to purchase guns, even while maintaining that no other part of the U.S. Constitution or the Geneva Conventions apply to them. And in Sacramento, a pesticide so cancer-causing that it's often used specifically to create cancer in rats for medical experiments was just approved for use on the state's strawberry crop.




The state's own Department of Pesticide Regulation had advised in a report against approving the gas, methyl iodide. And 50 Nobel prize winners asked the U.S. EPA not to approve it. (It did.) According to farmers, there are a number of alternatives to the stuff, including solarization, anaerobic soil disinfestation and natural pesticides. And it's especially important to use safe materials only in strawberries, which hold the chemicals they're treated with. (More background in this TGL post.)

Lobbying for methyl iodide, we have a single company, the largest pesticide manufacturer in the world, Arysta LifeScience. The Strawberry Growers Commission — the people who employ the people who'd be breathing the stuff in — had weakly declined to take a position.

The state is accepting public comment through June 14. Let them know that people trump profits.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/green/detail?entry_id=62991&tsp=1#ixzz0nFn1DGU0

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I'd say "unbelievable," except that I can believe it.

:mad:

[Echo In Light]

13. Nothing, and I mean nothing surprises me in the US anymore. So perversely bizarre on numerous levels

[KittyWampus]

2. California strawberries are an abomination anyway. Huge, white centers, flavorless.

I hold out for local and occasionally get store bought when they come from Florida.

[revolution breeze]

17. It depends on the variety

Huge strawberries with large centers are grown because they ship better. So people in North Dakota and Michigan can enjoy strawberries in January without getting bruised produce. This also gives the fruit additional time to mature during the shipping process. Small red juicy strawberries would arrive in Bismark rotten. I refuse to buy any produce grown more than 200 miles away. Yes, it limits the number of fresh fruits and vegetables I have access to, but it supports local growers and reduces my carbon footprint.

[Retrograde]

37. it also takes fewer big strawberries to fill a pint basket

reducing labor costs a bit.

The big ones do taste like strawberries - if they're picked when they're ripe. One of the growers at our farmers' market just over the hills from one large berry-growing region told me they pick the ones they ship east early, then sell the almost ripe ones to local stores, and the really ripe ones at the market. There's definitely a difference.

I do miss the "normal" sized ones, although even those were bred up from tiny wild berries.

[Gormy Cuss]

26. California strawberries are lovely -- if you buy them here, from local farmers.

The ones in Midwest and East Coast supermarkets are no better than winter tomatoes.

[revolution breeze]

33. I agree!

Some of the best strawberries I have eaten were grown in California when I lived there. When I lived in Washington, we ate Washington strawberries (fresh May - August, not available in December). Now we are back in Louisiana, we eat Louisiana strawberries. I do not eat strawberries from Florida unless I am visiting family there.

[KittyWampus]

44. perfect comparison- winter tomatoes. I also have a small strawberry patch over everbearing

which yield until late Summer :)

[KamaAina]

47. We only export the crappy ones

I'm passing a box of local ones (as in from 20 miles away) around the office this very afternoon.

[Luminous Animal]

64. Florida, years ago, registered to apply methyl iodide on their strawberries.

Enjoy.

[w4rma]

3. I'm never eating another strawberry if this passes. And I won't start again until it's repealed.

Well, maybe I'll just check the label to see if the strawberries came from California.

[Luminous Animal]

16. 47 other states already registered methyl idiode. Florida already uses it.

http://www.lavidalocavore.org/diary/3453/petition-to-ban-carcinogenic-pesticide-methyl-iodide

California does not currently allow it's use but is considering registering it.

[loudsue]

74. Holy shit!!! We have this approved in North Carolina!!

Good gawd!!! No wonder everybody's thyroid is going haywire! This shit is toxic on so many levels!!!

[AnArmyVeteran]

21. Grow your own. They are easy to grow if you can keep birds away. All the best...

[Dappleganger]

48. We're doing it again this year...

they do very well in container pots around the lanai.

[revolution breeze]

4. Know your grower

Buy local. Even if you buy from a big corporate grocery store, they will stock locally grown produce if the shoppers in that store demand it. Educate yourself and your neighbors. Informed consumers can make a difference. You don't want toxic strawberries, don't buy them and make sure your store manager knows why you aren't buying. When Kroger loses money on pesticide laden strawberries, they quit carrying them.

[fasttense]

5. Damn right, and Welcome to DU. n/t

[revolution breeze]

10. Thank you.

Keeping agriculture a viable industry in our country is so important but most people do not realize that importance. I support local agriculture and family farms as much as I can. It is inconvenient (driving 20 miles on Saturday morning to buy at the farmers markets and then they don't have fresh potatoes so I have to buy parsnips instead) but it is important.

[Luminous Animal]

11. A person can do both; lobby against toxic strawberries AND not buy them.

Here is the email to send your comments: [e-mail]

For more information see here: http://www.panna.org/fumigants/mei

[MadHound]

6. Start buying your strawberries, and other fruit, from your local farmer's market

Get to know how your food is grown. I can't emphasize this enough, and matters are only going to get worse in the future.

[Luminous Animal]

14. Matters get worse when people do not engage with their legislators.

You can send your comments via this email address:

[e-mail]

[MadHound]

23. Having engaged with my legislators for years and decades now,

I've come to the conclusion that it is, for the most part, an exercise in futility. They are going to do whatever the person who is putting money into their pockets wants them to do, and their constituents come in a distant second, if at all.

[truedelphi]

69. You express my frustration exactly. n/t

[loudsue]

75. So true. It's money in the pocket of the politicians that writes the laws

protecting those who need protection the least.

I'm pretty well informed about most things, but this shit has hit me like a ton of bricks. I had no idea North Carolina allowed this shit in our strawberries. We grow lots of strawberries around here. It's probably in the ground water and air all around us.

:puke:

[revolution breeze]

15. And make sure they are selling locally grown produce.

Some "farmers markets" actually sell produce brought in bulk from South America and repackaged to be sold as "local". If there are no orange groves in your area, question where those oranges in your farmers market came from. Ask questions! You are eating it and feeding it to your children!

[Gormy Cuss]

29. The term "farmers markets" is abused that way in some states. Those are green grocers, not farmers.

Most states have certification or permit programs for REAL farmers' markets, where the vendor are allowed to sell ONLY items produced on their farms. That's the key. For example, in California the words Certified Farmers Market (CFM) will appear in the name or any advertisement for one.


The best place to look for a local listing is the web page of the state department of agriculture.
Here's an example from Massachusetts:
http://www.mass.gov/agr/massgrown/index.htm

[Dorian Gray]

76. Just bought some

from our farmer's market this morning. Reading this article before I went led me to buy the organic farmer's market variety!

[TwilightGardener]

7. Are strawberry crops falling to a particularly bad pest, that they're going to start

using this stuff? Whatever, I hope organic strawberry growers don't and can't use it.

[KamaAina]

49. Not that I know of

it's probably about a buck a field cheaper to hose them down with cancer gas. :eyes:

[girl gone mad]

8. Thanks for posting this.

My cat is a big strawberry eater. Only wild strawberries, or raspberries and blueberries for him now.

[Kadie]

19. How cute.

Haven't heard of a kitty eating berries. ;)

We had a cat that liked the leafy tops off of celery.

[girl gone mad]

53. I hadn't heard of it either, we discovered it by accident.

But I googled it and he's not the only one. He will turn his nose up at fresh turkey or fish, but he begs for berries every day. He won't eat regular cat treats if he knows there is fruit in the house. He even likes those weird freeze dried berries that are in some cereals. He knows when something I'm eating has berries in it - even when I don't!

He'll steal lettuce or spinach when I'm making a salad, but he never eats it. Not sure what that's about. I will have to see what he thinks of celery tops. :)

[gateley]

57. That's really interesting. I get mad at cat food companies (and I buy

"healthy" cat food -- canned only) because they add fruits and veggies and cats are carnivores. Now I won't be so harsh in my judgment -- I figured they were added to make US think it was a well-balanced food.

[conscious evolution]

9. Makes me glad I grow my own.

The freshly picked ones(as in picked ten minutes ago) I am eating right now taste so much better than the store bought factory farm versions.
I think I will go pick some more.Mmmm nom nom nom.

[Kadie]

18. Any tips on growing your own?

My grandmother used grow them and they were so delicious. I have tried, but am not very successful. Is it better to use one of those strawberry planters rather than planting them in the ground?

;)

[conscious evolution]

31. The ones in the ground do much better

than my potted ones.
The potted ones are for propogating new ones.Much easier to transplant then digging them up out of the ground.
Either way,they do better with lots of water and sunlight.
Also,never pick every strawberry on a plant.Leave some so that they can self propogate.

[G_j]

12. **Comments due June 14, by e-mail to [e-mail]

Methyl iodide (PDF, 341 kb) – Notice of proposed decision to register pesticide products containing the new active ingredient, methyl iodide. Background information is also available. Comments are due June 14, 2010, by e-mail to [e-mail], or to the postal address on the notice.

[Uncle Joe]

20. Well that sucks, I used to love strawberries, note to self; no more strawberries.

:(

Thanks for the thread, Kadie.

[AnArmyVeteran]

22. Do you want me to remind you periodically? :)

I fired my 'Notes to Self Guy' because he was so damned unreliable! :)

[Uncle Joe]

27. Yes, I appreciate that, maybe once every other month for a year or two.

I considered bookmarking the thread, but then I would need to make note to self; check bookmark.:)

[Warpy]

24. Strawberries are phenomenally easy to grow

I've grown them in the south, in New England and out here in the New Mexican desert. They're a little space consuming, so you'll need a sizable plot to get enough to preserve and freeze, but it can be done quite nicely in the average backyard plot.

Since they're runner plants, they need confining but not extensive weeding. Just plant them, water them, and that's pretty much it.

Home grown strawberries aren't as picture perfect as the California berries, but they pack a flavor wallop you're just not going to get from fruit picked green and then sprayed with ethylene gas to ripen it.

[Shanti Mama]

30. Can they be grown in an Asian monsoon climate?

I need to look into this. I live in Kathmandu and would LOVE to have more strawberries. There's one "organic" grower here, trained by the Japanese many years ago. I always thought they had to work some kind of magic, but maybe not.

[Warpy]

41. Here's a basic guide

http://www.uga.edu/fruit/strawbry.html#GENERAL_CULTURE

I'd suggest raised beds with plenty of sand in the soil so that the plants aren't drowned. At that altitude, it should be cool enough to grow them well. Here, they grew best in spring, were gone by early summer. In New England, they were late summer and early fall.

The main thing you'll have to watch out for is mold if it's been especially rainy.

[Shanti Mama]

56. Thanks.

We get them now in Feb/March. We're quite far south so it's warm in the valley by then.

[gateley]

58. Seattle might be a challenge, then. Damn. nt

[Warpy]

86. Cool and rainy?

You could probably grow them in your drier season if you used raised beds and a very sandy soil. They need full sun to ripen, but sun for part of the day will do it.

[gateley]

89. Our drier seasons aren't all that dry. And we tend to be cool (except when we

get 100 degree week-long heat waves like we had last summer!)

It's probably better this way, I'm a killer of all plants. I'll continue to get the good stuff from our local markets. :hi:

[Warpy]

90. Here in the desert, I know better than to grow watermelon

and even tomatoes. Neither does particularly well unless you pour water on them, rendering them twice as expensive as anything grown in an area with deeded river irrigation rights.

There are just some things you need to buy. Dammit.

[bobbolink]

45. Can I grow them in my car?

Maybe on the engine?

[Warpy]

46. Too warm if you're driving it

but if you fill your car with sandy soil, you could probably grow them in late winter and early spring in the northern tier of states.

[bobbolink]

51. Great! I can sleep on the sand!

[roody]

25. Strawberries are already one of the most sprayed fruits.

Buy organic, grow them, or don't eat them.

[Lyric]

28. All the more reason that I'm glad I'm growing my own.

:hi:

[happy_liberal]

32. It is not enough to just 'grow your own'

Yesterday a damning government report came out stating that the environment/chemicals are the cause of many cancers and that the Government needs to address this.

How they can even consider adding to the current toxic environment is beyond my logic capabilities.

I lived right next to the Strawberry fields in Cali. Strawberries are already grown with methyl bromide. Plastic is put over the soil and taped down, then injected with extremely toxic smelly crap. The tape comes up and that crap goes right into the atmosphere. The farmers are particularly uncaring about close neighbors. Being pregnant and having small children, I asked them to at least warn us when they were going to use methyl bromide but they could not be bothered. I feel horrible for the (illegal-they have to be illegal so they can force them to work outside of normal safety standards) mexican workers that are forced to work with the stuff daily.

Until and Unless we start holding these Corporations, and our government that enables them, accountable...we are all going to die horrible deaths. They will not stop doing whatever it takes to make as much money as possible, damn the consequences.

Grow your own! Change your lightbulbs! They want us little people to think we can make a difference. When corporations are polluting like this, when one factory puts out more CO2 than one million people, there is nothing we can do to stop the decimation to our planet. We must shut down the real problem at the source.

[revolution breeze]

38. That is why we can not support Corporate Farms

Know your grower, if there is no demand for Green Giant strawberries, they won't grow strawberries! There has to be a profit or they won't spend the money growing the crop! Support local agriculture, know your growers, buy local produce only! Contact your legislators and local law enforcement, in California they have the strictest laws requiring the public to be notified on chemical use in agriculture. Call you local television station, talk to your neighbors, MAKE NOISE! It takes a little more effort than shopping at Wal-Mart but we can make a difference if we are willing to put forth some effort!

Sorry, this is one of the subjects I am passionate about. I get a little carried away.

[happy_liberal]

42. Right next to the strawberries, they are also using methyl bromide to raise heather to send to Japan

Even if we stop buying strawberries, they will use the land and the same toxic substances to make money, even if it means selling it to other countries.

We have to stop Monsanto from spreading their toxic crap all over the globe. They are destroying our planet.


"in California they have the strictest laws requiring the public to be notified on chemical use in agriculture"
talk to your neighbors, MAKE NOISE!"

I was living adjacent to a field, pregnant, and they would not bother to notify me even after repeated requests.

[revolution breeze]

77. Time to step it up a notch

Call the local televsion station, newspapers, get reporters out there to hear your problems. Monsanto and ConAgra do not want to have their names negatively printed in the newspapers or on teevee. Get in touch with local bloggers. Get your voice out on the internet. You, your neighbors, and your children deserve to be heard! MAKE NOISE!

[WinkyDink]

72. Corporations will NEVER be held to this account (known for decades), because there no longer are

governments; the RULERS ARE the corporations.

Stock-markets can bring down NATIONS, NATIONS WITH ARMIES, NATIONS WITH A SIGNIFICANT POPULATION, NATIONS WITH LAWS.

[revolution breeze]

84. If WE as consumers make enough noise

we can make a difference. It is what we are putting into our bodies and into our children's bodies. Young immune systems cannot effective deal with the same amount of poisons as adults can. I don't buy the poison, my life is too precious. My parents did not care and I believe this is what caused my autoimmune dysfunction, which has greatly influenced the way I do things now!

[northernlights]

34. happily it looks like I'll get a decent crop of strawberries this year

from my own garden. Organic. Fresh -- travels about 50 feet into the bowl of cereal...unless I bring the bowl with me to eat outside.

[NickB79]

35. Just one more reason to finish that raised strawberry bed I'm building in the backyard. NT

[amborin]

36. is this new?

when I pass the strawberry fields, they always fumigate with some gas; the strawberries are covered in plastic, in trenches, and workers pump in the gas. Were they using a different gas?

[revolution breeze]

39. Methyl bromide

Is most commonly used to fumigate strawberry, tomato and tulip and other flower bulb fields. Unfortunately the pests in the soil build up a resistance, especially if the fumigation process is done too often (i.e. like Corporate Ag does). Methyl iodide is shown to be more toxic to humans.

[amborin]

40. thanks

[gateley]

59. "...shown to be MORE toxic to humans." Jeez. I wonder what the people eat

who approve this stuff. That and chlorine and ammonia in beef. And...

[Luminous Animal]

65. The EPA. Thanks to the inactivism of the U.S. citizenry.

[revolution breeze]

78. I agree with you 100%

There are laws to protect us. But we have become so complacent and just let Big Agriculture/Pharmacy/Industry run over us. We need to educate ourselves about what is being do to us and our children and we need to fight. I write to my Congress Critter every week, I attend town hall meetings, I talk to my neighbors, I read building and planning permits which are published in the newspaper. Do not turn a blind eye to what is being done to you, your children and your community. Posting here is great, but what else are you doing (not you Luminous Animal, you in general).

[gateley]

85. Totally agree, but although many of us here do the same things, I fear the vast

majority of the populace just believes the lies. They know there are laws to protect us, and assume they're doing just that. When you begin to investigate and dig, the enormity of the misinformation and deceit is horrifying and suffocating. And, it's all about the money. I've been successful in making some people aware, even then they don't DO anything. Mostly people just nod and agree, but really don't believe how bad it is.

[earth mom]

43. God damn those bastards!

:grr:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

50. I think the issue of concern is exposure to farm workers.

That is, farm workers who are accidentally exposed to the stuff during spills and whatnot. It could be quite dangerous then (as are a number of ag chemicals). But I think it has a such a short half-life it wouldn't be an issue to the consumer.

Anyway, here's a damn fine article on the chemistry of organohalides:

http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2004/4/amazing-organohalogens/1

[progressoid]

52. Great.

just fucking great.

[Luminous Animal]

66. Already approved by the EPA and registered in 47 states. You've been eating it for years.

[Foo Fighter]

88. And that explains why all the strawberries I have bought over the years

taste like chemicals. Yuck. The only exceptions have been locally grown and/or organic strawberries. And even the latter can be hit-or-miss sometimes.

[The Damned]

54. That's okay. I'll just eat more lettuce!

Pray

[Luminous Animal]

67. You are alredy eating it. The EPA approvd its use in 2007. 47 states registered to use it.

California is one of 3 hold outs.

[AsahinaKimi]

55. Broke out in Hives once after eating Fresh Strawberries

I bet it was the pesticide and not the berries themselves.. but it won't happen again. I won't eat them anymore...unless they are in Dryers Ice cream.. or something. Smuckers jams and jellies.. still seem to not affect me.

[Quantess]

60. Remember "NO UVAS"?

How about "NO FRESAS".

[Blue-Jay]

61. Not my strawberries.

No chemicals in the garden, and the strawberries are already starting to pop.

[B Calm]

70. Mine are looking good too.

[Nikki Stone1]

62. THIS deserves a boycott.

Agribusiness needs to have its business suffer for this.

[Luminous Animal]

63. Who are you going to boycott? The EPA approved it in 2007

Since then, 47 states have registered to use it. Amongst them, Florida. The largest supplier of winter strawberries.

[truedelphi]

68. I was never allergic to strawberries until just a few years ago.

And so now I have to avoid them. Don't know if the allergies is related to this new iodide pesticide chemical or not.

[Luminous Animal]

73. I'm sorry to hear that but it has nothing to do with California strawberries.

Perhaps the berries you've been eating come from Florida.

[Nikki Stone1]

80. Stop eating strawberries unless they're organic

This is one product and it can easily be avoided.

[revolution breeze]

83. Do you NEED strawberries in winter?

If not, don't buy them unless you know WHO and HOW they are grown. Ask your grocery produce manager who supplies the strawberries. If he can't tell you, don't buy them and make sure he KNOWS why you are not buying them. Get your friends, neighbors, even complete strangers who buy at that grocery involved. Tell the store manager, tell the cashiers, tell the meat manager, tell the deli manager and the stock boys! Educate! Inform! Act! It is what you are putting into YOUR BODY! Why do you think autoimmune disease and cancer are on the rise?

[WinkyDink]

71. I'll be picking my own up the road a-piece from now on.

[SOS]

79. 50 Nobel Prize winners vs. one huge chemical company

The Bush Administration EPA sided with the chemical company.

Business as usual.

[truedelphi]

81. Yep same old same old.

And we can be content, I guess, with the fact that Waxman would rather worry about our right to ingest vitamin C, than what killinhg toxins are being out on the fruit we eat.

[4lbs]

82. There's a local grower here in the San Diego that grows strawberries and other fruits "organically"

without pesticides.

He charges a little more, but I gladly pay the extra cost, because the flavor is awesome.

[Hubert Flottz]

87. The repub's Final Solution to the baby boomer problem?

Edit...Gas Again...