/** headlines: 219.0 **/
** Topic: New Report Exposes Forces Behind Methyl Bromide **
** Written  2:10 PM  Jun 26, 1997 by econet in cdp:headlines **
/* Written 4:01 PM  Jun 23, 1997 by p...@igc.org in env.justice */
/* ---------- "new methyl bromide report" ---------- */

From: p...@igc.apc.org (Political Ecology Group)

                EMBARGO UNTIL:  June 20, 1997
                CONTACT:  Alba Morales 415/777-3488

Industry Pushes for Strawberry Fumigant
Despite Risks to Ozone and Human Health

San Francisco - A handful of powerful corporations are waging a
behind-the-scenes battle with scientists and policy-makers to continue the
use of methyl bromide in agricultural fields despite major toxic risks and
damage to the earth's protective ozone layer according to Bromide Barons, a
new report by the Political Ecology Group. "Consumers should know that the
industry delivering strawberries to their table is poisoning the families
living near farmland," said Alba Morales, one of the report's authors.

Bromide Barons documents an orchestrated campaign by manufacturers and
applicators to cast doubt on the scientific evidence of the danger of
methyl bromide, block the development of alternatives, woo policy makers
with legal and illegal campaign contributions,  and engage public relations
wizards to promote the chemical.

Used to fumigate strawberry fields, methyl bromide is listed by the EPA as
a category 1 acute toxin (the most potent category of poison).  In
addition, due to its status as the largest threat to the ozone layer, the
United States and the United Nations have plans to phase out the chemical.

Much of the risk of methyl bromide comes when it drifts from fields where
it was used.  Hundreds of elementary schools are located adjacent to or
nearby  zones of heavy methyl bromide use.  This neighborhood poisoning has
a strong racial slant.  Bromide Barons found that the vast majority of the
children at risk are Latino.  In sixteen of the twenty schools near the
heaviest methyl bromide applications, Latinos comprise upwards of 70% of
the student populations.

Find out more about PEG's campaign to Push Back the Poison:  Ban Methyl
Bromide at
www.igc.org/peg

Alba Morales, Campaign Organizer or Brad Erickson, Coordinator
------------------------------
Political Ecology Group (PEG)
965 Mission St. Suite 700, San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone 415/777-3488      Fax 415/777-3443
email: p...@igc.org
www.igc.org/peg

** End of text from cdp:headlines **

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