Bill seeks to reverse FDA stand on toxic fumigant

NEW YORK, U.S. – Some food companies joined Dow AgroSciences, a prominent pesticide manufacturer in the United States, to convince members of Congress to endorse a bill that directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reverse a proposed phaseout of sulfuryl fluoride, a highly toxic food fumigant and potent greenhouse gas, reports the Fluoride Action Network (FAN).

Should the bill be passed, it would make the U.S. one of only two western nations to allow sulfuryl fluoride on food, increase the number of American children ingesting unsafe levels of fluoride, and create a food poisoning risk for consumers who purchase food that contains permissible levels of the fumigant.

The Pest Free Food Supply Act, sponsored by Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA) and 14 others, seeks to prevent the proposed phaseout of sulfuryl fluoride from taking effect. The phaseout, which EPA proposed in January 2011, was prompted by a joint petition from the Fluoride Action Network (FAN), Environmental Working Group (EWG) and Beyond Pesticides.

In seeking to prevent the phaseout from taking effect, the bill's sponsors have adopted Dow's widely discredited talking points on the safety and necessity of sulfuryl fluoride fumigation. The public should know:

- Of the few western nations that allow food facilities to be fumigated with sulfuryl fluoride only the U.S. and Australia allow fumigation to occur nike