A new pest fumigant turns out to be a greenhouse gas
Pest control has been a problem ever since DDT was found to be toxic. Unfortunately, replacement pesticides can prove to have other pitfalls. Sulfuryl fluoride a new fumigant meant to replace the greenhouse gas methyl bromide, has just been designated a greenhouse gas.
Luckily or unluckily, depending on your point of view, testing and research of sulfuryl fluoride revealed that the new fumigant is actually worse than carbon dioxide. Scientists at MIT, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego and other institutions are reporting the results of their study of the gas, sulfuryl fluoride, this month in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
Sulfuryl fluoride has a life span of 36 years. Currently, the gas only makes up about one and a half parts per trillion and is increasing by about five percent per year. It doesn’t seem like such a threat. However,Ron Prinn, director of MIT’s Center for Global Change Science and a co-author on the new paper, has stated, “…ton for ton, it is about 4,800 times more potent a heat-trapping gas than carbon dioxide”.
Bad news for agri-business and builders that were counting on being able to switch to the new fumigant since methyl bromide is being phased out because of its greenhouse gas properties. A new search is going to have to be started and quickly for another substitute that will control pests.
Whether or not you consider it to be good news that sulfuryl fluoride’s greenhouse gas properties were discovered so early in the game, depends upon your point of view. As a farmer and pesticide manufacturer, this can only be one more problem to add to so many others.
As an environmentalist, discovering the deadly properties of sulfuryl fluoride before the substance became widely used, can only be seen as a fortuitous circumstance. The use of sulfuryl fluoride can be stopped before it becomes a major contributor to global warming. One less substance to worry about is always a plus, especially when our planet is already suffering.
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