A US state is facing the decision whether to allow a dangerous pesticide into strawberry production. Gourmet.com calls this Politics of the Plate: Toxic Strawberries?

California strawberry farms could soon become toxic sites, if governor Arnold Schwarzenegger succumbs to industry pressure to bypass scientific review by the state’s Department of Pesticide Regulation and allows growers to apply methyl iodide, a potent fumigant that kills every living organism in the soil. He is expected to make a decision in the next two weeks.

I find it strange to see this decision even raised for consideration, given the kind of criticism and documented harm that comes with methyl iodide. The EPA received a letter in 2007 from fifty-four concerned scientists and doctors including five Nobel Laureates, which gave a stark warning.

We are writing to urgently request your assistance in preventing the registration of methyl iodide for use as a soil fumigant. As chemists and physicians familiar with the effects of this chemical, we are concerned that pregnant women and the fetus, children, the elderly, farm workers, and other people living near application sites would be at serious risk if methyl iodide is permitted for use in agriculture (80-275 pounds per acre).

The same letter suggests there is real danger from using a flawed model for toxicity tests.

…U.S. EPA has actually decreased the size of the safety factors that typically add some level of protection from exposures to pesticides.

The EPA did not forestall approval or alter their testing model. Instead they rushed to register “Midas” products. California has already classified methyl bromide as a carcinogen, but New York state has completely refused to register the pesticide. Will California follow?

The bottom line is that as the US debates health care reform, they really should also consider eliminating threats such as poison gas that will drift from agriculture sites into neighborhoods, neighboring fields with workers, and settle into groundwater.