By Chef Tanya Petrovna
Native Foods Chef & Founder
Metyl Iodide that is. Methyl Iodide is a soil fumigant and a soil fumigant is something that gases up the soil before crops are planted to kill fungi, bacteria, nematodes, insects, weeds, disease organisms and healthy organisms. Basically it is designed to kill the soil. If you don’t wait the correct amount of time, it will also kill the crop that is being planted.
Thing is in soil there are also great things that help protect and engage the young seedlings being planted and the flipside is that without that protection there is also a loss of the plantings that is factored in. It’s the control/fight nature commercial agriculture modus operandi. Is there another way? Well yes for example there are strawberry farmers out there that have been farming without it for 35 years.
Huge monoculture fields know no other way to gain yields.
John Froines, Professor of Environmental Health at our neighboring UCLA chaired at external scientific review panel that studied risks of Methyl Iodide. His comments? “This is, without question, the most toxic chemical on earth.”
Froines and the four other members testified before the Senate Food and Ag Committee which was looking into Dept. of Pesticide Regulations proposed decision to register Methyl Iodide officially. Despite their concerns California proposed using Methyl Iodide in agriculture.
Here’s another bit of info about M.I.’s buddy fumigant chloropicrin:
The Pesticide Action Network (www.panna.org) tested with a Drift Catcher (device that monitors air for fumigant pesticides) the city of Sisquoc, CA as they grow monoculture commercial strawberries there. All the rules were followed in the fumigant procedures. Average levels in that city’s air over a 19 day period were 23 to 151 times higher than acceptable cancer risks. Don’t let your kids ride bikes outside or anything!
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD ON METHYL IODIDE ENDS TODAY!
CALL THE GOV! 916-445-2841 www.is.ga/cO438
In the meantime EAT ORGANIC STRAWBERRIES!!
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