Straw(berry) Man

Wow, we really need to buy organic strawberries. And not just because they're in the Dirty Dozen (list of produce items with most residual pesticides put out by EWG). In October, the EPA approved an even more toxic fumigant, methyl iodide, to "sterilize" the soil pre-planting. By that the farmers mean "kill everything in sight that might resemble a roundworm." As you might imagine, it's bad news for a host of other living things, including humans (think attacking central nervous systems and reproductive disorders, for starters). Methyl bromide, the old fumigant, was so toxic that the US agreed to phase it out back in 1987 but we've been using it (at increasing levels!!) ever since via maniacally greedy and shortsighted clever loopholes. Its replacement seems like it's even worse, and the impact on farmworkers was already gruesome with methyl bromide. Time to eat blueberries instead...or, um, anything else.