Views on ISPM 15 and Methyl Bromide
David Hammond, Managing Director
March 19th 2010 marks the first day of a new methyl bromide free Europe. As usual, despite many years of notice, the event will catch many by surprise. Sulphuryl Fluoride was at one stage thought to be a promising replacement, but it is an incredibly toxic and dangerous gas and not as effective at killing all life stages of insects as methyl bromide, whilst being more effective and dangerous at killing mammals - namely humans.
Methyl bromide is strongly linked with depletion of the ozone layer, and as such we cannot afford to take chances - not with the planet. It is totally right that the world stop using this material. We cannot understand why some countries are dragging their feet over its withdrawal, I suspect heavy lobbying from industry of the kind that went on in the UK may have something to do with it. On the plus side there are technical solutions to all of the so called problems that arise from the withdrawal of this fumigant, but the first obstacle is the mindset of industry.
As a past National Fumigation Manager at Rentokil and having spent 5 years at Igrox and seen fumigations in progress in numerous countries around the world, I was constantly amazed that more people haven't been killed by fumigation. This is in addition to quite a few of my former fumigation colleagues and friends I know of who have died of brain tumours or other cancers, which I attribute to their work exposure to pesticides and fumigants. In the last year we have buried my good friend Vic Mathews of Precision Pest Management and Del Norton who took over from me as National Fumigation Manager for Rentokil, both from cancer in their early 50's.
The practice of fumigating commodities with methyl bromide under sheets in enclosed warehouses, and allowing people to work in the same building was I think particularly potentially hazardous. In practice, nobody hung around to take gas readings in the working environment, a quick check for obvious leaks and patch the sheets up with tape was the best one could expect. I for one am happier that practice has finished.
Whilst working in New Zealand in the late 1990's I noticed the way in which they used pesticides was appalling - clients would pay not by results, but by the amount of pesticide that was applied, and so the more you used the greater your profit. I also noted in an eight week period an apparently much greater incidence of cancers amongst people I met compared to the UK. At the time I knew of only 3 or 4 people in the UK whom I was acquainted with who had endured cancer. In just 8 weeks in New Zealand I came across 20 people who had either had cancer themselves or their relative had died of it. After coming across 5 incidences in my first week, I then interviewed the next 15, and all of them had been exposed to pesticides in either the Kiwi fruit industry, or paper/timber industries or in normal pest control. We then had the Dow incidents and enquiry re their New Plymouth pesticide plant in New Zealand which had a lot of media cover out there - although it was suppressed in the UK.
This awareness of the hidden dangers of pesticides drove me to look into the feasibility of heat treatment in the mid 1990's as an alternative to methyl bromide, and a conviction that pro-active pest prevention is always better than reactive pest control. By 1999 we had the basic principles of mobile heat treatment sorted and the rest as they say is history. Meetings with MAF in New Zealand and AQIS in Australia, both in Canberra and in Sydney kept them abreast of our technical developments, and I'm sure must have helped contribute in some small way to the acceptance of heat treatment for ISPM 15.
The final and major contribution made by Thermokil Ltd was the introduction of cheap and affordable heat treatment kilns with our container conversions. No longer could the supporters of methyl bromide claim it that alternatives were more expensive, and for timber, heat treatment is far more effective, quicker, cheaper and safer than using toxic gases. I am convinced, just from what I know, that practicable alternative treatment strategies exist for almost every situation. Some require planning in advance and anticipation of potential problems, but this handicap should be viewed as an opportunity to handicap cowboys in industry, as it will reward good management and forward thinking.
The latest issue is the treatment of full containers to ISPM 15 specification. After 5 years or so of ISPM 15 as we know it, I cannot believe that people still even load untreated and unmarked pallets or packaging into a container for export. You would think the exporters and carriers would make people aware of this - but no, it seems there is a demand by docks for these emergency dockyard treatments.
We are on the case and are trialing some ideas - but the real answer is... get pallets and packaging treated before you load up- its so much simpler, easier and cheaper for all concerned!
Finally, and returning to a serious theme - A comparatively large number of my former work colleagues and friends have died of brain tumours, but we have no formal data on the issue. I am loath to go raking over families past memories, good or bad without good reason. If people would like to volunteer any information to me in confidence, we can possible help identify whether or not there is a link between methyl bromide or other chemicals commonly used by fumigators and brain tumours in particular.