Poisoined fruit, industry corruption and agri-tyranny: A new clue in the case of the toxic strawberries

It was disappointing, if not downright strange, when California's Department of Pesticide Regulation decided in December to approve methyl iodide for use on the state's strawberry crops despite more than 50,000 letters of opposition — the most DPR has ever gotten on any proposed rule.

Was DPR head, Mary-Ann Warmerdam, in the pocket of the chemical industry? There's no smoking gun, but Warmerdam had been subject to aggressive lobbying by Arysta LifeScience, the largest privately held chemical manufacturer in the world and the maker of the profitable methyl iodide. Earlier this week, Warmerdam resigned her post, announcing she would be taking a job at chemical maker Clorox. (Clorox does not manufacture methyl iodide.)

DPR's approval raised eyebrows because methyl iodide is known to cause cancer, nerve damage and late-term miscarriage. Although the Bush-era U.S. EPA approved it, it's banned in Washington and New York, states which are normally less aggressive regulators than our own.

Many pointed fingers at Warmerdam, who had touted mitigation strategies that Dr. John Froines, Chair of the DPR Scientific Review Committee and Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at UCLA, said "are not going to be adequate, because this is without question one of the most toxic chemicals on earth." (read more)