Subject: PANUPS: USDA Response to Methyl Bromide Concerns

From: Pesticide Action Network North America Reg Ctr <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 1 Dec 92 12:40:56 PST

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PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK NORTH AMERICA UPDATES SERVICE
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Response to Public  Concerns about Methyl Bromide

November 30, 1992

Citizens who wrote to the US Department of Agriculture urging
action toward phasing out the highly toxic, ozone-depleting
fumigant methyl bromide received a form letter in November from
the USDA's Nancy Ragsdale, Director of the National Agricultural
Pesticide Impact Assessment Program.  Ragsdale's lettertter notes
that "the Department has received many letters" expressing concern
about the effects of methyl bromide.

In this letter, Ragsdale states that USDA is "completing an
assessment of the agricultural benefits resulting from methyl
bromide use" and that there are currently no alternatives to its
continued application in agricultural production and food imports.
The  letter concludes by saying that "our lack of knowledge about
the impact of agricultural use on the ozone layer means that this
issue must be carefully examined before a course of action is
taken."

Despite USDA's reluctance to promote or endorse alternatives to
methyl bromide in stored product, soil, and structural pest
management,  research and practical experience indicate that
viable alternatives are available for methyl bromide use.  The
recent report, "Into the Sunlight," documents these possibilities
and recommends that spending priorities for the USDA address the
need for research into appropriate, nontoxic, and environmentally
sound alternatives to methyl bromide usage.

With a new Secretary of Agriculture still to be selected by
President-elect Clinton, it is essential that  the public brings
continued pressure on USDA stressing the hazards of methyl bromide
and the need to develop and implement safer alternatives to its
use. Further letters to USDA might address methyl bromide's high
acute toxicity to humans and animals,  its role as a powerful
ozone depleter, the successful use of alternatives to methyl
bromide in commodity, soil, and structural fumigation,  and the
tremendous long-term cost to agriculture and to the general public
of ignoring the critical need for a safer approach to pest
management.  The present USDA study examining the "benefits" of
methyl bromide in agriculture must be balanced with a careful,
honest appraisal of its risks.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: "Into the Sunlight" is available from
Friends of the Earth, 218 D St. SE, Washington, DC, USA (202)
544-2600.

LETTERS urging an understanding of methyl bromide's serious risks,
and an implementation of its phase-out, can be sent to Nancy N.
Ragsdale, Director, National Agricultural Pesticide Impact
Assessment Program, Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, USA
20250. (202) 720-4623 Fax:  720-2166.
======================================================== This
information is provided by the Pesticide Action Network North
America Updates Service (PANUPS), a pesticide-related news service
from the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) North American Regional
Center.  Updates are posted weekly on EcoNet in the
"en.pesticides," "en.agriculture" and other appropriate electronic
conferences, and distributed worldwide across the APC computer
network. PANUPS is also posted in the Public Conference on RTK
NET, on GeoNet in the PESTICIDES-BBS bulletin board, on FidoNet in
The Ecology Network, on the Sustainable Agriculture Network
(SANET) on BitNet, and on PENpages agriculture information service
at Penn State Univ. Hard-copy compilations of these updates are
also available. For more information about PAN activities and
publications, contact: PAN NA RC, 965 Mission Street #514, San
Francisco, CA 94103. Tel: (415) 541-9140. Fax: (415) 541-9253.
Telex:  156283472 PANNA. E-mail address on EcoNet:
[email-masked]
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