The barons of bromide: The corporate forces behind toxic poisoning & ozone depletion

Ecologist

Volumn 27, Issue 3, 1997, Pages 90-98

  Karliner, Joshua ^a   Morales, Alba ^b   O'Rourke, Dara ^c  

^a Transnational Rsrc and Action Ctr   (United States)

^b Political Ecology Group (PEG)   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTANT; CHEMICALS INDUSTRY; CORPORATE STRATEGY; INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION; METHYL BROMIDE; OZONE DEPLETION; PUBLIC OPPOSITION;

USA;

EID: 0031465092     PISSN: 02613131     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. Methyl bromide is also used to kill termites and other insects in buildings, for post-harvest fumigation of crops such as walnuts, and to make other chemicals. See UNEP, "1994 Report of the Methyl Bromide Technical options Committee: 1995 Assessment", Montreal Protocol On Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, Nairobi, p.1.
2. Office of Air and Radiation, "Methyl Bromide Consumption Estimates", US Environmental Protection Agency, 7 August 1995, p.3.
3. Tomatoes account for 21 per cent, strawberries 10.5 per cent, peppers 9 per cent, ornamental flowers 7 per cent and tobacco 7 per cent. See UNEP, op. cit. 1.
4. Rogers, P. and Benson, M., "Pesticide-use Extension Raises Concerns", San José Mercury News, 8 January 1996.
5. UNEP, op. cit. 1, p.7.
6. Breskin, I., "Bromine Makers Cheer as Derivatives Business Warms", Chemical Week, Vol 155, No. 21, 30 November 1994, pp.40-41.
7. Office of Air and Radiation, op. cit. 2, p.5.
8. Yang, R., Witt, K., Alden, C. and Cockerham, L., "Toxicology of Methyl Bromide", Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, Vol. 142, pp.65-85.
9. Pease, W., "Comments of Environmental Defense Fund on Senate Bills Addressing Methyl Bromide" made before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, State of California, 24 January 1996, p.6.
10. Ibid., p.3.
11. NOAA, NASA, UNEP, WMO, Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 1994, Executive Summary, World Meteorological Organization, Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project, Report No. 37, Geneva 1994, pp.15-17.
12. Goldberg, C., "Farm Workers Battle to Organize in California's Strawberry Fields," The New York Times, 3 July 1996.
13. "Methyl Bromide Bill Riles 'Greens'", Chemical Marketing Reporter, 3 July 1995.
14. Breskin, I., op. cit. 6. Other producers include France's Elf Atochem and five Japanese transnational which produce ten per cent of global output.
15. See Karliner, J. with Morales, A. and O'Rourke, D., Lethal Injection: TriCal Inc. and the Poisonous Politics of Methyl Bromide, Political Ecology Group/Transnational Resource & Action Center, San Francisco, 31 March 1997. TriCal's affiliated companies include Hendrix and Dail, Soil Chemicals Corporation and Shadow Mountain Products.
16. California Department of Pesticide Regulation, Pesticide Use Database 1991-1992, California Environmental Protection Agency, Sacramento.
17. See section 13129 of the California Food and Agricultural Code.
18. Pease, W., op. cit. 9, p.6.
19. NRDC, "A Chronology of Methyl Bromide and the Birth Defects Prevention Act", Natural Resources Defense Council, San Francisco, n.d.
20. Pease, W., op. cit. 9, p.3.
21. Based on US EPA data, methyl bromide was identified in 1993 under California's Proposition 65 (a separate process from the Birth Defects Prevention Act) as a chemical known to cause reproductive toxicity. However, the administration of Governor Pete Wilson determined that this listing should only apply to structural fumigation, exempting agricultural applicators of methyl bromide from issuing mandatory warnings before application. See "Fumigant Methyl Bromide Listed for Structural Uses", News Release, California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, 22 Dec. 1993.
22. Warren, J., "Wilson Moves to Delay Ban on Fumigant", Los Angeles Times, 30 Dec. 1995.
23. The Strawberry Workers Campaign, Five Cents for Fairness: The Case for Change in the Strawberry Fields, AFL-CIO and the United Farm Workers, November 1996, Watsonville and Washington DC, p. 13.
24. Johnston, D., "Growers' Cooperative Guilty Over Gifts to Ex-Agriculture Chief", The New York Times, 25 September 1996.
25. Weintraub, D.M., "Groups with Stake in State Top Wilson's Donor List: Major Corporations, Organizations with an Interest in Legislation, Regulations Are Prime Contributors", The Los Angeles Times, 27 February 1994.
26. UNEP, Environmental Effects of Ozone Depletion: 1994 Assessment, United Nations Environment Programme, November 1994.
27. US GAO, The Phaseout of Methyl Bromide in the United States, United States General Accounting Office, GAO/RCED-96-16, December 1995, p.1.
28. Annually, Great Lakes is allowed to produce 43,888,900 pounds and consume 34,140,675 pounds; Albemarle is permitted to produce 18,114,566 pounds and use 14,035,793 pounds; Ameribrom is allowed to use 7,763,644 pounds; and TriCal can consume 240,295 pounds.
29. Ridgeway, J., "Bill's Toxic Fruit Cocktail: Clinton Chases the Votes While Poisoning the Environment", The Village Voice, 21 Nov. 1995.
30. Johnston, D., "California Growers' Cooperative Guilty of Giving Illegal Gifts to Ex-Agriculture Chief", The New York Times, 25 Sept. 1996.
31. Ibid.
32. Sparber, P.G., "Clean Air Act Amendment" Memorandum, Methyl Bromide Working Group, 25 September 1996.
33. Quoted in Waterfield, L., "Ongoing Study May Support Compound," The Packer, 5 December 1994.
34. Author's interview with Celia, Watsonville, 13 November 1996.
35. The Netherlands and Germany have completely eliminated the use of methyl bromide in soil fumigation, while at least eight, more countries - the US, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Indonesia - have decided to ban methyl bromide a decade ahead of schedule. See Miller, M., (ed.) Methyl Bromide: The Technical and Economic Feasibility of Replacing Methyl Bromide In Developing Countries, Friends of the Earth, Washington, 1996, p.11.
36. Methyl Bromide Global Coalition, Methyl Bromide Global Monitor, Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring/ Summer 1994.
37. Author's interview, August, 1996.
38. Schonfield, A., Wamukonya, L. and Glendening, S., Under African Skies: Methyl Bromide Use and Alternatives in Sub-Saharan Africa, Pesticide Action Network, San Francisco, p.4.
39. The draft declaration, circulated to several countries for their signature, warned of the risk of obsolete methyl bromide being dumped in developing countries, recognized the existence of some alternatives and called for international financial assistance so that developing countries could introduce environmentally-sound alternatives to methyl bromide.
40. Personal communication with anonymous delegate to the Montreal Protocol, October 1996.
41. Duafala, T., "Important Conclusions: Methyl Bromide State of the Science Workshop", revised version, 9 October 1995.
42. The list includes most of the Bromide Barons: TriCal, Sun-Diamond Growers, Great Lakes Chemical, Dead Sea Bromine, Teijin Chemicals, Sanko Chemical, Rentokil, Igrox, Driscoll Strawberry Associates and the California Strawberry Commission. See UNEP, op. cit. 26, pp.25-26. These figures do not include other transnational which support the Bromide Barons in more subtle ways, nor Committee members who are government representatives actively supporting the methyl bromide industry, such as those from the USDA and from Kenya.
43. These figures do not include production in China, India and the former Soviet Union. See UNEP, op. cit. 26, pp.39-42.
44. Schonfield, A. et al., op. cit. 38, pp.9-10.
45. Wang Yuejin, "A Brief Introduction of Methyl Bromide Application in China", Institute of Plant Quarantine, Ministry of Agriculture, People's Republic of China; Volume 1: Metals and Minerals: Minerals Yearbook, US Department of the Interior, 1994, pp.129-135.
46. "Bromine", Mineral Commodity Summaries, US Department of the Interior, January 1996; Brack, D., International Trade and the Montreal Protocol, Earthscan Publications, London, p.36.
47. "Bromine", Mineral Commodity Summaries, US Department of the Interior, January 1996; Brack, D., International Trade and the Montreal Protocol, Earthscan Publications, London, p.36.