Who needs an Ozone Layer

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Originally uploaded by Mrs. H.

White House approves increased use of cancer-causing pesticide
December 16, 2004: In violation of both an international treaty and the Clean Air Act, outgoing Environmental Protection Agency administrator Michael Leavitt signed off on new regulations allowing U.S. farmers who grow tomatoes, strawberries and other crops to continue using methyl bromide, an ozone-depleting and cancer-causing pesticide that had been scheduled to be phased out worldwide next year.

Methyl bromide was banned under the Montreal Protocol, a treaty signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 and supported by subsequent U.S. presidents from both the Democratic and Republican parties that is intended to protect the ozone layer. Methyl bromide has been shown to cause prostate cancer in agricultural workers and others who are directly exposed, according to the National Cancer Institute.

At a conference last month on the Montreal Protocol, the United States was among a dozen nations that successfully negotiated for continued "critical use" exemptions from the methyl bromide phaseout. The EPA exemptions will allow agribusiness interests to use 19.7 million pounds of methyl bromide next year, an increase of nearly 2 million pounds over the amount used in 2003. The EPA exemptions will also allow a handful of U.S. chemical companies to produce and import 17 million pounds of methyl bromide in 2005, even though they have already stockpiled more than 22 million pounds of the chemical. The rules violate conditions that countries use up the available stockpile of methyl bromide before authorizing new production --conditions the Bush administration agreed to in Montreal Protocol talks with 180 countries just last March.

"Catering to a handful of big chemical and agribusiness interests, the Bush administration is actually expanding the use of this dangerous, ozone-destroying chemical," said David Doniger, policy director of NRDC'sclimate center. "More methyl bromide means more ozone depletion and higher risks of skin cancer, cataracts and immune diseases for millions of Americans."