Group Claims High Levels of Pesticide

High levels of methyl bromide vapor have been detected in an east Ventura neighborhood where several residents claim they were recently sickened by the toxic pesticide, according to an environmental group lobbying for stricter state guidelines on the use of the fumigant.

In a report to be released at a Ventura news conference today, the Environmental Working Group of Washington, D.C., says that tests commissioned by the group last week detected methyl bromide 27 times during a 12-hour nighttime test in the residential area adjacent to strawberry fields that were treated with the chemical.

In five instances, concentrations of the pesticide were between five and nine times higher than the state’s safety standard for 24-hour exposure. The average detection figured over 12 hours was 294 parts per billion, compared to the state health standard of 210 parts per billion over 24 hours, the group reports.

It also cites methyl bromide levels found in the Monterey County community of Castroville in June that were far higher than the state’s 24-hour standard.

“I don’t think this is an aberration,” said analyst Kert Davies, author of the report. “I think it is indicative of the health risks caused by methyl bromide drift from these fields.”

A top state official whose agency oversees pesticide use said he wants to analyze the study’s data to see if there is a verifiable problem. But he emphasized that California’s regulations on using methyl bromide are the most stringent in the world.

“I think methyl bromide has been monitored more than any other pesticide in the world and has more restrictions placed on its use,” said Paul Gosselin, assistant director of the state Department of Pesticide Regulation. “We’re not just sitting back and looking.”

County authorities who have investigated the situation in east Ventura have said the strawberry grower’s application of the fumigant was by the book.

However, the Environmental Working Group maintains in its second report this year on methyl bromide risks that Californians are inadequately protected from airborne pesticides.

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And it calls for mandatory statewide monitoring of pesticide vapors in neighborhoods near fields, the widening of buffer zones around fields and an immediate phaseout of agricultural use of the fumigant.

Methyl bromide is a highly volatile and widely used pesticide, most commonly sprayed in strawberry fields but also used on vegetables, in plant nurseries and to fumigate crops for export.

In strawberry fields, it is injected about 18 inches into the soil, then covered with a plastic tarp for at least five days to contain the chemical’s toxic fumes. It is used on about 4,500 acres of strawberries in this county.

The chemical will be banned nationwide in 2001 because it depletes the Earth’s ozone layer. A California ban was sidestepped in March after Gov. Pete Wilson, citing job and economic losses, asked the Legislature to extend the chemical’s use for two years even though mandatory health studies had not been completed.

The Environmental Working Group’s tests in east Ventura were taken from a street next to a Tamarin Avenue day-care center whose operator is one of several residents who complained of illness last week after methyl bromide was injected into strawberry fields behind their homes.

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They said they suffered headaches, nausea, stomachaches and other flu-like symptoms. Two families abandoned their homes, and the day-care center temporarily moved to another location.

Davies of the environmental group said government regulators should have tested the air at night after residents’ complaints.

“Our overnight levels shot through the roof,” he said. “If you sample during the day when the wind is blowing, you have a much lower chance of finding high levels. But if you sample at night when the air is still, the levels are much higher.”

State and local officials said they do not routinely monitor airborne pesticides in neighborhoods because established buffer zones make methyl bromide use safe to nearby residents. The size of those buffer zones was determined after about 1,000 field tests were done to confirm the findings of a sophisticated computer model, officials said.

“One of the secrets of this that people don’t understand is the amount of monitoring that has gone into these restrictions,” said Gosselin, who directs state pesticide regulation’s enforcement and monitoring efforts.

State regulations on methyl bromide were enacted following testing from 1992 to 1994, he said. Field tests showed that state regulations are about 25% more stringent than they need to be for public safety, he said.

“The proximity of residential neighborhoods was taken into account in these studies,” Gosselin said. “These are to protect the public, whether farm workers, schools or residents.”

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W. Earl McPhail, the county’s agricultural commissioner, said Wednesday that he is completing a report on the Tamarin Avenue incident for state officials. He said he has not been able to confirm through a doctor that any Ventura resident was made ill by pesticide vapors.

McPhail said his office took air samples on the adjacent strawberry fields during application and detected no methyl bromide. Officials did not take samples at night, because the fields were immediately covered with plastic tarps much thicker than what is required by state regulations.

McPhail said residents’ complaints that the grower had violated the restrictions contained in his county methyl bromide permit--by spraying in unspecified areas, working with two applicator rigs and allowing tears in the tarps--were investigated.

The grower followed his permit, which allowed two rigs, and coyotes apparently tore holes in tarps that were repaired the next day, McPhail said.

The Environmental Working Group’s study will be released today at a news conference at Tamarin Avenue and Ralston Street, next to the fields from which the methyl bromide is said to have drifted. Several environmental and farm worker advocacy groups will be represented, including California Rural Legal Assistance. Last week, that group sent letters to about 70 local strawberry growers, asking them to voluntarily notify residents who live near their fields 21 days before they sterilize soil with methyl bromide.

State and local authorities said such warnings are unnecessary and could alarm residents.