Termite Fumigation Poison Gas History
The gas Methyl Bromide, also called Bromomethane, is one of the five most used agricultural fumigants during the 20th century.
This gas fumigant was developed mainly for the agricultural industries need to better control pest infestation of stored grains.
A broader use of the gas fumigant arose from its effective application results and low treatment cost.
Full structure tent fumigation with poison Methyl Bromide gas quickly became the preferred commercial and residential method of termite control treatment by the nineteen fifties.
In the nineteen sixties, scientific identification of certain cancer causing agents called carcinogens was discovered.
DDT was one of the most popular and widely used carcinogenic agricultural pesticides identified as a major public health threat.
DDT was immediately banned from all consumer and most commercial use.
The banning of DDT caused agricultural use of Bromomethane to skyrocket.
By the year nineteen eighty, use of Methyl Bromide in the United States, had grown to an estimated thirteen thousand tons annually.
In the year 1987, several nations convened in Montreal Canada and signed a treaty to ban Bromomethane due to scientific evidence acquired from an Antarctic Ice study.
The studies showed Methyl Bromide was found to be 120 times more destructive to the Ozone layer than the recently outlawed and banned CFC refrigerant gases.
In 1988, The United States ratifies the Montreal ban agreement.
In 1990 the U.
S.
clean air act includes a Bromomethane ban protocol.
In 1993 Methyl Bromide annual production and import quantities were frozen to 1991 levels.
By the year 2000, the gas could no longer be purchased for use to fumigate termites; however, all existing supplies of Methyl Bromide purchased to treat termites are allowed to be used until the entire product is gone.
In 2010, the Montreal treaty committee grants the United States an exemption for agricultural use only, until a sufficient substitute can be found.
Another gas fumigant originally engineered in the nineteen fifties to treat termites, bugs and rodents in indoor structures, such as homes, railroad cars and warehouses is Sulfuryl Fluoride.
This fumigant is less damaging to certain foams and fabrics than the harsher gas Methyl Bromide.
Sulfuryl Fluoride is much more costly and does not penetrate or kill the eggs of many of the target labeled treatable pests as Methyl Bromide will.
Use of this gas for termite fumigation was commonly limited to special treatments at extra cost until the less costly, more effective, banned fumigate Methyl Bromide was no longer available.
In the year 2004, The United States Environmental Protection Agency approved use of the fumigant Sulfuryl Fluoride for agricultural treatment purposes as a replacement for the banned Methyl Bromide.
In the Year 2011, after being petitioned to review additional Fluoride excessive public exposure risk research of the lethal toxin, the United States Environmental Protection Agency made the decision to stop the commercial use of Sulfuryl Fluoride in food and food items, because the insecticide and food fumigant is a significant public health risk that exposes children to excessive levels of toxic fluoride, and because it is a known toxin.
In this same year, Sulfuryl Fluoride continues to be the number one used, poison gas fumigant, for the treatment of termites in the United States.
This gas fumigant was developed mainly for the agricultural industries need to better control pest infestation of stored grains.
A broader use of the gas fumigant arose from its effective application results and low treatment cost.
Full structure tent fumigation with poison Methyl Bromide gas quickly became the preferred commercial and residential method of termite control treatment by the nineteen fifties.
In the nineteen sixties, scientific identification of certain cancer causing agents called carcinogens was discovered.
DDT was one of the most popular and widely used carcinogenic agricultural pesticides identified as a major public health threat.
DDT was immediately banned from all consumer and most commercial use.
The banning of DDT caused agricultural use of Bromomethane to skyrocket.
By the year nineteen eighty, use of Methyl Bromide in the United States, had grown to an estimated thirteen thousand tons annually.
In the year 1987, several nations convened in Montreal Canada and signed a treaty to ban Bromomethane due to scientific evidence acquired from an Antarctic Ice study.
The studies showed Methyl Bromide was found to be 120 times more destructive to the Ozone layer than the recently outlawed and banned CFC refrigerant gases.
In 1988, The United States ratifies the Montreal ban agreement.
In 1990 the U.
S.
clean air act includes a Bromomethane ban protocol.
In 1993 Methyl Bromide annual production and import quantities were frozen to 1991 levels.
By the year 2000, the gas could no longer be purchased for use to fumigate termites; however, all existing supplies of Methyl Bromide purchased to treat termites are allowed to be used until the entire product is gone.
In 2010, the Montreal treaty committee grants the United States an exemption for agricultural use only, until a sufficient substitute can be found.
Another gas fumigant originally engineered in the nineteen fifties to treat termites, bugs and rodents in indoor structures, such as homes, railroad cars and warehouses is Sulfuryl Fluoride.
This fumigant is less damaging to certain foams and fabrics than the harsher gas Methyl Bromide.
Sulfuryl Fluoride is much more costly and does not penetrate or kill the eggs of many of the target labeled treatable pests as Methyl Bromide will.
Use of this gas for termite fumigation was commonly limited to special treatments at extra cost until the less costly, more effective, banned fumigate Methyl Bromide was no longer available.
In the year 2004, The United States Environmental Protection Agency approved use of the fumigant Sulfuryl Fluoride for agricultural treatment purposes as a replacement for the banned Methyl Bromide.
In the Year 2011, after being petitioned to review additional Fluoride excessive public exposure risk research of the lethal toxin, the United States Environmental Protection Agency made the decision to stop the commercial use of Sulfuryl Fluoride in food and food items, because the insecticide and food fumigant is a significant public health risk that exposes children to excessive levels of toxic fluoride, and because it is a known toxin.
In this same year, Sulfuryl Fluoride continues to be the number one used, poison gas fumigant, for the treatment of termites in the United States.
