Gateway on Pesticide Hazards and Safe Pest Management

Updates from the Daily News Blog

California Court Bans State-Run Pesticide Spraying for Failure to Consider Adverse Impacts
June 2, 2022

Autism Linked to Wide Range of Commonly Used Pesticides
March 27, 2019

Federal Indictment Issued in Poisoning of Family with Banned Home Use of a Pesticide
April 17, 2018

California Regulators Sued for Allowing Increased Use of Toxic Fumigant without Public Input
February 6, 2017

EPA To Investigate Pesticide Misuse in Hawaii by Terminix and Monsanto
November 16, 2016

California Regulators Allow an Increase in Toxic Fumigant Use, Failing to Protect Public and Farmworker Health
October 13, 2016

Public Health Watchdog Sues Dow Chemical in California Over Air Pollution Caused by Toxic Pesticide
September 26, 2016

Judge Orders Release of Terminix Documents in Methyl Bromide Poisoning of Family
August 26, 2016

Terminix To Pay Delaware Family $87 Million Settlement for Poisoning with Methyl Bromide in U.S. Virgin Islands
August 3, 2016

Terminix To Pay $10 Million Criminal Fine for Poisoning Family in Virgin Islands
March 31, 2016

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Methyl bromide

General Information

• Fact Sheet: MethylBromide.pdf
• Product Names:
  Meth-O-Gas (Great Lakes Chemical)
  Terr-O-Gas (Great Lake Chemical)
  Brom-O-Gas (Great Lakes Chemical) formulated with Chloropicrin
  Pic-Brom (Soil Chemicals)
  Mebrom (Mebrom NV)

• Chemical Class: Inorganic fungicide, insecticide, rodenticide
• Uses: Broad-spectrum fumigant chemical used as an acaricide, antimicrobial, fungicide, herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, and vertebrate control agent.
• Alternatives: Organic agricultural
• Beyond Pesticides rating: Toxic

Health and Environmental Effects

• Cancer: Yes (7)
• Endocrine Disruption: Yes (36)
• Reproductive Effects: Not documented
• Neurotoxicity: Yes (7)
• Kidney/Liver Damage: Not documented
• Sensitizer/ Irritant: Yes (7)
• Birth/Developmental: Yes (7)
• Detected in Groundwater: Not documented
• Potential Leacher: Not documented
• Toxic to Birds: Not documented
• Toxic to Fish/Aquatic Organisms: Yes (8)
• Toxic to Bees: Not documented

Residential Uses as Found in the ManageSafe™ Database

• Mice

Additional Information

• Regulatory Status:
  • EPA Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) amended 5/2009
  • Because MeBr depletes the stratospheric ozone layer, it was to be phased-out in 2005, however, critical use exemptions allow for its continued use.
• Supporting information:
  • Extoxnet Methyl Bromide Factsheet (Extension Toxicology Network)
  • PAN Pesticides Database: Methyl Bromide (Pesticide Action Network)
  • Scorecard Methyl Bromide Factsheet (The Pollution Information Site)
• Studies:
  • Top 15 Farmworker Poison
  • Prenatal and infant exposure to ambient pesticides and autism spectrum disorder in children: population based case-control study. von Ehrenstein, et al. 2019. BMJ 2019;364:l962