U.S. seeks another exemption for globally banned pesticide

[sabra]

http://www.yorkdispatch.com/business/ci_4597646

U.S. seeks another exemption for globally banned pesticide

The Bush administration is seeking world permission to produce thousand of tons of a pesticide that an international treaty banned nearly two years ago, even though U.S. companies already have assembled huge stockpiles of the chemical.

Methyl bromide has been used for decades by farmers to help grow plump, sweet strawberries, robust peppers and other crops, but it also depletes the Earth's protective ozone. The United States and other countries signed a 1987 treaty promising to end its use by 2005.

Americans failed to meet the Montreal Protocol deadline and since have been getting annual exemptions allowing methyl bromide's continued use on certain crops in specific states. Other nations have sought far smaller exemptions.

The latest exemption requests are being considered this week at an international meeting in New Delhi, India.

[Bigmack]

1. Got that permission...

Threads like this go nowhere.... they're not as sexy as the non-stories du jour. Meanwhile, the earth dies.
- - - -
Saturday, November 4, 2006
Pesticide that destroys ozone OK'd for U.S. use
By RITA BEAMISH THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Bush administration on Friday won international approval for U.S. farmers to use thousands of tons of a potent ozone-destroying pesticide without having to dip substantially into large stockpiles that were recently revealed.
The pesticide, methyl bromide, was banned under an international treaty nearly two years ago except for uses deemed critical. U.S. officials have secured exemptions to the ban so that growers can use it to kill soil pests for tomatoes, strawberries and other crops in agricultural states such as California and Florida.
At a meeting Friday in New Delhi, treaty partners approved use of just over 5,900 tons for those needs in 2008, said Michael Williams, spokesman for the Montreal Protocol, which works to phase out substances that deplete the ozone layer.
U.S. stockpiles far exceed that amount, but the nations said Americans can meet the need by manufacturing more than 5,000 tons of new methyl bromide. The stockpiles could then be drawn down. The allotment is a reduction from the administration's request for nearly 7,100 tons, and continues the downward trend in annual methyl bromide production and use.
The decision came over the objections of European nations and despite the recommendation of the treaty's own technical committee. That panel had urged a more substantial cut in the U.S. request on grounds that other countries have proved that alternatives can successfully replace methyl bromide.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/291107_ozone04.html

[all.of.me]

2. breaking the rules again

we never look into alternatives. we want to break or bend the rules instead. sickening.