Environmental groups are considering resuming their lawsuit against the EPA. They say it’s a travesty the agency has tacked an extra couple of years onto their original plan to phase out a widely used pesticide. But some fruit growers are struggling to find an alternative that’s as effective as what they’re losing. Bob Allen reports their industry has little margin for error:
Transcript
Environmental groups are considering resuming their lawsuit against the EPA. They say it’s a travesty the agency has tacked an extra couple of years onto their original plan to phase out a widely used pesticide. But some fruit growers are struggling to find an alternative that’s as effective as what they’re losing. Bob Allen reports their industry has little margin for error:
Azinphos methyl or AZM is the main insecticide used in cherry and apple orchards. The cherry industry has zero tolerance for any insect parts found in the fruit. Whole truckloads of cherries have been dumped because of a single fruit fly maggot.
Michigan State University researcher Mark Whalon says so far there’s no alternative to AZM that can do the job. He’s been testing the use of alternatives in orchards for the last three years.
“Other locations where cherries are grown can use these compounds, export them into our markets and essentially put us out of business because they can grow cherries at a very much reduced cost.”
This spring EPA planned to phase out AZM on fruit by 2010. But a week ago the agency decided to allow its use to continue two years beyond that.
For The Environment Report, I’m Bob Allen.