U.S. fruit growers in Montreal this week will push for an increase in their use of a pesticide known to destroy the ozone layer, claiming that exemptions for developing nations on the chemical are unfair.
Methyl bromide, a fumigant that kills soil and food pests,
is due to be phased out by developed nations by January 1,
2005, under the 1987 Montreal Protocol to protect the
atmosphere.
The George W. Bush administration last year attempted to
exempt farmers from the 2005 ban. Negotiations on how much
should be exempted for critical uses deadlocked last November
at a U.N.-sponsored negotiating conference in Nairobi.
Delegates hope to reach an agreement on the figure at a
Montreal meeting this week.
The United States, the European Union and Japan have cut
the use of methyl bromide to 30 percent of 1991 levels, but now
the United States wants to increase its use of the chemical to
37 percent over previous levels over the next two years and by
an unspecified level in the year after that.
The protocol requires more than 180 signatory states to
phase out the use of nearly 100 chemicals that damage the ozone
layer, the part of the atmosphere that protects the Earth from
ultraviolet radiation.
U.S. growers say they are concerned about a rule in the
protocol that allows developing nations an extra 10 years,
until 2015, before they have to phase out use of the pesticide.
"The 50-acre grower in California may be competing with a
multinational corporation based in China who gets to use the
product 10 years longer," Rodger Wasson, president of the
California Strawberry Commission, told Reuters in an interview.
Wasson said that puts U.S. growers at an unfair advantage
because Chinese growers are now exporting frozen strawberries
to the United States. Other U.S. growers say the chemical is
necessary to compete with farmers in developing countries, such
as Mexico, where labor costs for ridding crops of pests are
much cheaper.
Environmentalists say giving exemptions to the Montreal
Protocol could lead to a blow to widening global cooperation on
other green pacts.
"We need to see a commitment to a declining trajectory for
methyl bromide. Otherwise we're left with a job unfinished,"
said U.N. Environment Program spokesman Nick Nuttall.
"If this happens it may send the wrong signal and so other
aspirations and goals like delivering safe and sufficient
drinking water (in the Third World), reversing the loss of the
world's wildlife, and fighting global warming can also be put
on hold," he said.
Others say alternative fumigants that do not damage the
ozone layer -- including ProFume and Telone, both made by Dow
AgroSciences, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Co. -- can be used
in tomato and strawberry farms.
David Doniger, policy director at the U.S.-based advocacy
group Natural Resources Defense Council, said methyl bromide is
the most dangerous ozone-depleting chemical still in widespread
use and also a cause of prostate cancer.
Other countries in the European Union are also asking for
exemptions, but the U.S. is seeking more exemptions that the
other countries combined.
Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited
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