Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
Methyl Iodide May Be Approved by EPA Today
Friday, September 28, 2007
Methyl Bromide has been used by the hundreds of thousands of tonnes to sterilize soils before crops are planted. It’s devastating affect on our Ozone layer is well documented.
Methyl Iodide maybe approved as a replacement for Methyl Bromide today by the EPA. Methyl Iodide was researched as long ago as 50 years.
Both compounds are known to be toxins to humans and animals but, methyl Bromide is thought to be far more devastating to the ozone.
Methyl Iodide has been proven to be equal to, and in many cases better than, Methyl Bromide in the control of many detrimental organisms living in the soil. Why, when this compound seems to be a safer alternative, to the Ozone layer was Methyl Iodide not being used for the past 30 years?
Why then has the world used Methyl Bromide instead?
The nature of Methyl Iodide causes it to dissipate far faster in the air than the methyl bromide, a few days rather than several years. It’s properties cause it to be used in a liquid form rather than gas, like Methyl Bromide; an advantage that makes it potentially less dangerous to use during application.
Interestingly enough there are claims by the USDA itself that the lack of the iodide portion of the compound is a major cause of mental illness in the world…..DOH! Is it really that easy?
The USDA also states unlike bromide, iodide is a recognized plant and human nutrient. Why would we continue to float this Methyl Bromide into our earth’s atmosphere for some 50 years, knowing there may be a suitable substitute that might even be good for us?
Good farming practices went out the window with the coming of the industrialized age. There was a time when plowing a crop under after harvest and rotating crops were the norm. The Hebrew Scriptures (the old Testament) even give detailed instructions as to how to successfully and with good stewardship cultivate the soil. How did we get so far off the track of nourishing the soil and in doing so our bodies? Follow the money.
At some point in our industrialized evolution someone got the bright idea that farming could and should be a mega profitable venture. Mechanized harvests, mechanized fumigation, mechanized fertilization became the mechanics for the mega bottom line profits of farming.
One look at the ever evolving ‘food pyramid’ and the volumes of food recommend for a balanced diet only proves there are fewer and fewer nutrients in the foods we eat. I’m not even speaking of processed and refined foods. Fresh, wholesome fruits and vegetables now days need to be eaten in quantities that are bordering on the ridiculous. Why? Because these foods are grown in void and vanquished soil. Over farmed, over worked and over sterilized.
I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know that to produce nutrient rich food from the earth, the earth needs to be nourished. Sterilization does not enrich. Fertilizing with lab made compounds does not nourish.
The only thing that has been truly nourished on our earth in the last 60 years has been the bottom line of the commercial ventures.
Photo: World Ag Expo-Tulare CA.USA
Labels: Agriculture, EPA, Environment, Global Warming, Methyl Bromide, Methyl Iodide, Ozone
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Methyl Iodide May Be Approved by EPA Today
