If methyl iodide is approved, the decision will come with a long list of regulations, designed to protect workers, and people who live nearby from inhaling fumes from the chemical.
This story comes from California Watch.
The Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing scientific assessments of a controversial strawberry fumigant scheduled for use in California, as well as opening up a public comment period on the toxic pesticide, according to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and the environmental law group Earthjustice.
This could have implications in California, where the state's Department of Pesticide Regulation is expected to approve the fumigant, methyl iodide, later this year, amid concerns that it could be toxic to farmworkers and people who live near agricultural fields.
In an interview last week, Feinstein said she had asked the EPA to look into methyl iodide after learning about the 120-fold difference between exposure levels deemed safe by the DPR, and the levels deemed safe by the agency's own staff scientists, as well as by a panel of outside scientists commissioned by the state.