Wilson Moves to Delay Ban on Fumigant

Handing a holiday gift to California farmers, Gov. Pete Wilson on Friday called a special session of the Legislature to avoid a looming statewide ban on methyl bromide, a popular but highly toxic pesticide.

Declaring that no effective alternative to methyl bromide has been developed, Wilson said forbidding use of the chemical would “devastate California’s agriculture industry and threaten thousands of jobs.”

“California is now at a critical juncture,” Wilson said in a statement. “If we are to remain a competitive economic force . . . we must act now to prevent the suspended use of methyl bromide.”

Methyl bromide is a clear, odorless fumigant pumped into the ground to sterilize soil before planting. It is widely used by growers of strawberries, which have delicate roots that need disease-free furrows, and on almonds, beans, tomatoes and numerous other vine and orchard crops.

After harvest, methyl bromide is used to protect the quality of produce and to prevent pest infestation during shipment. Many countries refuse to accept any exports, such as California fruits and nuts, unless they are treated first with methyl bromide.

Dubbed a “silver bullet” by growers because of its potency, methyl bromide is also acutely toxic. Research has shown it to cause birth defects in animals, and even small doses can affect the central nervous system and cause headaches, nausea, vomiting and dizziness.

Since 1982, the state Department of Pesticide Regulation has attributed 15 deaths to methyl bromide, all of them occurring when people entered fumigated buildings before the gas had dissipated. Hundreds of farm worker poisonings have also been recorded, and the chemical has been documented as a prime destroyer of the atmosphere’s ozone layer, which protects the Earth from cancer-causing ultraviolet light.

Under the Birth Defects Prevention Act of 1984, manufacturers of methyl bromide, as well as many other chemicals, were required to prepare studies on the health effects of their product by 1991. They failed to meet that deadline, and the Legislature gave them an extension until March 30, 1996. If that deadline is not met, sales of the product will be banned.

Now manufacturers want a second extension. Gov. Wilson said their request is warranted because the health studies have been delayed by “legitimate scientific debate” among regulators over how the research should be performed.

The special session will run concurrently with the regular legislative session that begins Wednesday. A special session allows the passage of laws that can take effect immediately, rather than at the beginning of the following year.

As news of Wilson’s decision spread, farmers reacted with jubilation. A.G. Kawamura, who grows strawberries and vegetables in Irvine, said there is no viable substitute for methyl bromide and predicted that some farmers could face financial collapse without it.

“If you have a medicine cabinet full of things to keep your crops healthy, and they keep taking things away without putting in replacements, it becomes alarming,” Kawamura said. “We would not use methyl bromide--which is very expensive--if there was something else that was safer and as effective.”

Critics meanwhile called Wilson’s action a political sellout to agriculture that will jeopardize the health of farm workers and other Californians. While conceding that there is no single substitute for methyl bromide, they say that biological control and steam or solar sterilization of soil have shown promise.

“This is an outrageous abuse of political power that sacrifices the health and safety of Californians to preserve higher profits for a special interest group,” said Anne Schonfield, coordinator for the Methyl Bromide Alternatives Network.

“There is no debate about this chemical in the scientific community,” added Monica Moore, program director of the San Francisco-based Pesticide Action Network. “It is a very potent human poison that has no place in California’s future.”

Methyl bromide has been in use since the 1930s, and the United States now accounts for 40% of its global use. California trails only Florida in consumption of the product; in 1993, 15 million pounds were used in this state, with about 80% of that amount applied as a soil fumigant.

As research about its harmful effects has piled up, efforts to phase out the chemical have gathered momentum. In 1993, parties to the Montreal Protocol, a treaty signed by a group of nations to protect the ozone layer, agreed to stop using the product by 2010. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has banned production and importation of methyl bromide beginning in 2001.

Agriculture interests have been lobbying Congress to extend the federal phaseout deadline. Farmers say they would be put at a crippling competitive disadvantage if the U.S. were the only country to prohibit use of the chemical.

In California, Assemblyman Peter Frusetta (R-Tres Pinos) has championed the farmers’ cause, requesting the special session in a letter to Wilson signed by 50 other lawmakers. In an interview, Frusetta said he does not view the scientific evidence against methyl bromide as compelling and believes that a ban on the product would be “devastating for agriculture, causing ripple effects throughout the California economy.” He plans to introduce legislation next week to request that the March 30 deadline be suspended.

Opponents called the special session a cynical maneuver to thwart laws designed to protect the environment and public health. Bill Walker of the League of Conservation said that manufacturers have had 12 years to prepare for life after methyl bromide.

“We’re extremely disappointed,” Walker said. “As far as we’re concerned, our children’s health is worth more than cheap strawberries.”

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Methyl Bromide

Methyl bromide is a highly toxic, colorless, odorless fumigant. It is used with more than 60 crops, pumped into the ground before planting to rid soil of root-destroying worms.

Health Effects

It can cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, blurred vision, poor coordination and twitching. High exposure can be fatal. The liquid form can cause severe, blistering burns.

Agricultural Concerns

Farmers say banning the chemical would cost the state up to $60 million in lost exports of walnuts, cherries, peaches and nectarines and up to $200 million in lost nursery and agricultural crops if they could not fumigate the soil.

Source: California Department of Food and Agriculture, state Hazard Evaluation System and Information Service.