US Approves Limited Methyl Bromide Use
9 November 2006 Methyl bromide, which is banned under international treaty except in critical cases, will again be available to US farmers for tomatoes, strawberries, and some other crops in agriculture-heavy states such as Florida and California in controlled amounts.
The agreed-upon 5,900 tons is a significant drop from the 7,100 tons requested by the administration of US President Bush, which is a step toward continuing the downward trend of methyl bromide production and use. The cut was agreed on after the panel pointed out that other countries have successfully used alternatives to methyl bromide.
Jay Vroom, president of CropLife America, said that the diverse agriculture of the US needs methyl bromide to subsist. "By no means is there one product that will fit all the critical uses of methyl bromide today," he said, adding that exemptions such as the New Delhi decision are necessary while alternative pesticides are under research. "We’re not there yet, and the American farmer needs to have these tools so we can continue to be have viable exports."
The US has argued that the methyl bromide it proposes to use is in stocks that existed prior to the global ban of the product. However, critics have noted that those stocks remain very large despite being drawn down every year, and that it violates the spirit of the ban to use large levels of the product, regardless of when it was manufactured.
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