A lawsuit filed by environmental and farmworker rights groups challenging the state’s approval of methyl iodide, a highly toxic pesticide used on strawberries, had its day in court on Jan. 12 in Oakland.
Appearing before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch, attorneys for environmental law firm Earthjustice argued that in authorizing the fumigant, the state’s Department of Pesticide Regulation ignored data regarding the chemical’s negative health effects, bowing to pressure from manufacturer Arysta LifeScience.
After a lengthy battle, the state approved methyl iodide as a pesticide for use on certain crops in December 2010—primarily on the state’s 38,000 acres of strawberries. Within days, Earthjustice sued the state and Arysta on behalf of the Pesticide Action Network, United Farm Workers of America, Californians for Pesticide Reform, and others.
The groups contend methyl iodide causes late-term miscarriages, is a known carcinogen, and puts groundwater at risk of contamination. They say the state’s approval violates the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the California Birth Defects Prevention Act, and the Pesticide Contamination Prevention Act.
At the hearing in Oakland, Roesch asked the state’s deputy attorney general, Cecilia Dennis, representing the Department of Pesticide Regulation, to give documented proof that the agency had considered other options as required under CEQA. Dennis couldn’t produce the document, saying the agency defers to local agricultural agencies to permit the chemical’s application. Roesch then gave attorneys until Jan. 19 to file a brief proving the department’s registration regulations trump CEQA guidelines.
“We are eager to respond to his request,” Department of Pesticide Regulation spokeswoman Lea Brooks said in an e-mail to the Sun. “The department is defending its determination that methyl iodide can be used with no significant adverse effects if applied under California’s toughest-in-the-nation health-protective restrictions.”
Earthjustice’s lawyers will have a week to respond to the brief, after which Roesch will determine, likely within a few months, if the state violated the law during the approval process.
Last year, Santa Barbara County Agricultural Commissioner Cathy Fisher issued the county’s first-ever permit for application of the chemical, to G&S Farms near Guadalupe. The fumigation was approved for about five acres of strawberries, however Earthjustice and other groups challenged the permit, and it was put on hold pending further review. But the chemical, under its brand name Midas, was eventually applied. A second methyl iodide fumigation occurred at Glad-A-Way Gardens east of Santa Maria in December.
Santa Barbara County Deputy Ag Commissioner Debbie Troupe said the county currently has no pending applications for methyl iodide permits and doesn’t anticipate any more requests until the court case is settled.
“If you were a farmer, you wouldn’t want to deal with it,” Troupe said. “If we issued a permit and it became so it wasn’t a legal pesticide, then we’d have to pull the permit.”
This article appears in Jan 19-26, 2012.