I know at times I may come off as some wackadoo that believes in a great conspiracy. As one commenter said “If all this stuff is bad for us then why do they sell it?” Yes, it is true. I talk a great deal on this blog about all of the MANY things that we may be eating, wearing, or using in our homes that are down right dangerous…and yet allowed to be sold to us on the open market. I truly believe that corporate greed comes before public health and I stumbled upon another story that shows this very succinctly.
Strawberry growers in California and Florida want to use a very toxic chemical called methyl iodide to fumigate their crops. A company called Arysta manufactures this chemical and they REALLY want to sell it to these growers. But there is a problem….methyl iodide is a neurotoxin and a carcinogen, it causes mutation in DNA, and it is highly dangerous for pregnant women, fetuses, and the elderly. Oh and it causes a little environmental problem…it contributes to ozone layer depletion and was banned under an International treaty many years ago.
So it seems that this is a slam dunk case. Methyl iodide is dangerous and we shouldn’t spray it on our food or the soil that will grow our food. At least 54 scientists, including five Nobel laureates in chemistry agree. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not agree. They have decided to allow this chemical to be used on our food… strawberries, tomatoes, and peppers as well as ornamentals, turf, trees and vines.
Robert Bergman of the UC Berkeley’s chemistry department led the effort by scientists to persuade the EPA to reject methyl iodide.
“It is potentially really toxic, and it’s certainly very reactive. From what we know about its chemistry, we know this stuff reacts with DNA. It mutates it. So it’s prudent to be as careful as you can with it,” Bergman said in an interview. He and other scientists asked the EPA to allow an independent review by the National Research Council and this request was rejected.
So what changed? Why is the EPA allowing this to happen? Arysta, has spent eight years and more than $11 million trying to persuade the EPA to register methyl iodide as a pesticide. AND Arysta’s former chief executive, Elin Miller, is now a top official at the EPA and was appointed administrator of its northwest region last year. Imagine that….the EPA hiring a chemical company mogul to protect the environment. I guess we can’t really expect that the Environmental “Protection” Agency actually plans on protecting us.
Check out the piece the LA Times did about this story here.
