Toxic Worm In the Apples

One morning in 1995, Juan Angulo showed up for work at an apple orchard in Pasco, Wash. owned by a large company called Broetje Orchards. His supervisor wasn't around, so when time came, Angulo and the rest of his crew got busy trimming apple trees.

"About a half hour later, my nose started running," he said in a recent interview. "Then I got a rash on my arms."

As Angulo worked, his head started pounding, his stomach started churning and the rash worsened. He and about 18 fellow trimmers soon went to the emergency room where they learned the cause of their sickness: exposure to azinphos-methyl, a pesticide derived from WWII nerve gas that goes by the friendlier sounding brand name, Guthion. Deadly to humans in small doses (a third of a tablespoon), Guthion, when sprayed on fruit trees, is adept at killing insects that threaten the multi-billion-dollar apple and pear industries.

Prompted by such stories, Earthjustice, the National Resources Defense Council and Farmworkers Justice Fund are suing the EPA over its decision to keep the popular pesticide on the market.

The environmental evil-o-meter has long registered the noxious coziness between federal regulators and the pesticide industry. This suit alleges the EPA gave thumbs up to Guthion based on scientific data generated by the pesticide industry without ever subjecting the data to review by independent bodies. The suit also says the EPA held certain data from public view and conducted a lopsided cost benefit analysis that was supposed to weigh Guthion's economic benefit against its risk to people like Juan.

Moreover, the EPA didn't consider safer alternatives that could do Guthion's job without it.

"This administration especially is perfectly happy to decide that using unsafe chemicals is okay," says Shelley Davis, an attorney for Farmworkers Justice Fund.

Davis, a widely respected Beltway activist who has for years tracked federal regulation of pesticides, is preparing for a key hearing on Oct 14. EPA attorneys are trying to get the suit dismissed.

"Guthion is the first time that I am aware of that the EPA used the unreviewed industry data generated by the Agricultural Re-entry Task Force (a group of pesticide manufacturers)," says Davis. "Previously, they evaluated field workers' risk using a different methodology. The old approach required each chemical manufacturer to conduct tests with its own pesticide to determine the effects. Now, the EPA has accepted the data generated by the ARTF to serve as a global substitute for all pesticides, even ones not specifically tested, and is using this generic data in its formula instead of product-specific data."

Her main gripe, however, is that no independent body reviewed the data used by the EPA. What's more, the one independent researcher Davis knows of who has seen the data thinks it is flawed. (That person, a university researcher, did not respond to an interview request for this article).

Much of the Guthion case is distilled to disagreements over the methods and data used in the EPA's mind-numbingly complicated formulas for determining the risk factors of worker exposure.

Azinphos-methyl was first registered as a pest control 35 years ago. Later the Food Quality Protection Act required the EPA to take a second look at azinphos-methyl and other so-called organophosphates (which are the most implicated class of pesticides in symptomatic illnesses). Three years ago, in 2001, EPA evidently thought the chemical was enough of an ass-kicker to outlaw 28 of its crop uses and phase out seven more. However, eight crop uses – including Guthion's primary use in apple orchards – were allowed to slide, something Bayer AG and Makhteshim-Agan Industries, the makers of Guthion, no doubt found worthy of a champagne toast.