Council Calls for Restricting Methyl Bromide

Prompted by the death of a 36-year-old Toluca Lake woman who was apparently poisoned during a fumigation, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday asked the state to impose new restrictions on the use of methyl bromide.

The pesticide attacks the central nervous and respiratory systems, causing dizziness, vomiting and disorientation.

In the last 13 years, methyl bromide has been blamed for 18 deaths in the state. Most of the dead were burglars or homeless people who entered fumigated buildings where the chemical was used. However, the most recent victim appears to be Sandra Cornwall Mero, who died in March, two weeks after she was discovered by her landlady unconscious in her Toluca Lake home.

Larry Feldman, an attorney for Mero’s mother, said an autopsy has confirmed that Mero died of methyl bromide poisoning.

Use of the chemical was about to be banned in California last year until the state Legislature delayed the ban at the request of Gov. Pete Wilson and farm groups, who use the chemical for soil fumigation.