Over the next six years, the Environmental Protection Agency is phasing out the remaining uses of an insecticide used on foods. Lester Graham reports, some environmentalists say it should be banned immediately:
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Over the next six years, the Environmental Protection Agency is phasing out the remaining uses of an insecticide used on foods. Lester Graham reports, some environmentalists say it should be banned immediately:
The insecticide azinphos-methyl, or AZM, is still used on some vegetables, nuts, and fruits. The chemical can cause short term harm to farm workers and their families who live near orchards. Over-exposure can cause nausea, vomiting, and in severe cases convulsions, coma, and death. Low-level long-term exposure can cause memory loss and other affects on the brain.
Shelley Davis is with the group Farmworker Justice.
“There are plenty of adequate, safer alternatives for pest control on the market already. Growers do not need to use AZM. This is the time the EPA should show leadership and should say ‘Let’s switch to safer alternatives.'”
The insecticide won’t be completely phased out until late in 2012. Apples, blueberries, parsley, cherries and pears will be the last foods still treated with AZM.
For the Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.