Methyl Bromide Ban
Under the recently passed U.S. Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has prohibited the U.S. production and importation of methyl bromide starting January 1, 2001. Methyl bromide is an odorless, colorless gas essential to the farming, storage, transportation, trading and processing of more than 100 American crops including fruits, grains, vegetables, cut flowers, wood products and cotton. Methyl bromide plays a key role is ensuring the safety and adequacy of the American food supply. Eliminating methyl bromide altogether would result in severe economic injury to numerous sections of the agricultural economy throughout the U.S. Despite years of effort and millions of dollars of public and private research, safe, cost-effective alternatives simply do not exist for most uses of methyl bromide. Extending the phase-out of methyl bromide beyond the year 2001 and assuring the continued availability of methyl bromide where it is needed because of the lack of acceptable alternatives is an absolute necessity.Methyl bromide is used as a soil fumigant. As a soil fumigant in agriculture, methyl bromide is used as both a pre-plant and post harvest fumigant to protect crops from harmful pest
The final alternative for using methyl bromide would be to extend the phase out date of methyl bromide beyond the January 1, 2001 deadline because of the lack of acceptable alternatives. But what is a true, acceptable alternative? A true alternative must work, it must be effective, and it must be safe (environmentally sound) and cost effective. It must also be made commercially available and remain available for farmers to use. The advantages of steam sterilization are that it can be a highly efficient, cost effective process for the control of soil-borne organisms, pests, and weeds. Steam eliminates the need of tarps and fumigants. It can be a neat, clean, and easy-to-use process, leaving no toxic residues or fumes and therefore less harmful to other crops and growers. In addition, steam requires little aeration time. .Steamed soils can be planted as soon as they cool, whereas chemically treated soils can have a relatively long treatment and aeration period (Crop Protection Coalition 5). Kohatsu, Paul. Personal interview. "Lack of Acceptable Alternatives." 2 Nov. 1999. One of the advantages to using Telone C-17 and Tillam are that they are environmentally safe. Although they are still toxic pesticides, they do not deplete the Earth's ozone layer like the fumigant methyl bromide. A study conducted at the University of Florida found that a 16-24 percent increase in the crop yields were achieved with the use of Telone C-17 in conjunction with Tillam compared to those achieved with methyl bromide (Blank 21). I think amending the U.S. Clean Air Act to extend the U.S. phase out date of methyl bromide beyond the year 2001 is an absolute necessity. Safe, cost effective alternatives simply do not currently exist for most uses of methyl bromide. The U.S. economy as well as the safety and adequacy of the American food supply depend on the use of methyl bromide. Phasing out methyl bromide all together would only hurt agriculture and the economy. Public involvement and government awareness is a key factor in amending the Clean Air Act and extending the phase out date of this essential chemical. Blank, Christopher. "Constant Pressure." The Grower October 1999: 18-19. However, it should be noted that while there are a number of positive aspects to using steam as a pest control tool, there are potential pitfalls. This method does not currently appear to be operationally feasible for large outdoor crops due to slow application speed as well as high energy and capital investment costs. Due to limited steam penetration in the field, surface application may not reach pests in deep-rooted trees or crops. It is also a very inefficient method when soils are very wet. In addition, steam that is too hot may increase soil aggregation and destroy soil structure (Crop Protection Coalition 5). There are many disadvantages to using the pesticides Telone C-17 and Tillam. One of the disadvantages are the cost per acre to use is more for the combination of Telone C-17 and Tillam than it is for methyl bromide. To fumigate an acre of land using Telone C-17 and Tillam costs about $2500. To fumigate an acre of land using methyl bromide costs about $1400 (Blank 21). When a farmer is farming on a large scale, the cost to use is almost double for Telone C-17 in conjunction with Tillam. When using the two pesticides, they bring up another problem. The time involved in applying the two pesticides is much longer than methyl bromide because each pesticide must be applied separately, weeks apart from each other (21). Therefore, Telone C-17
Some common words found in the essay are:
C-17 Tillam, Telone C-17, Agency EPA, Protection Coalition, methyl bromide, Air Act, Senate April, Rep Miller, Ozone Depletion, San Francisco, Kohatsu Salinas, telone c-17, c-17 tillam, telone c-17 tillam, phase date, january 1, phase date methyl, importance methyl, air act, date methyl, importance methyl bromide, clean air, clean air act, date methyl bromide, crop protection,
Approximate Word count = 2403
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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