Use of MeBr for Quarantine and Preshipment

The environmental benefits of reducing methyl bromide use are being eroded by its increasing use for quarantine and preshipment,” says Tom Batchelor, cochair of the United Nations Environment Programme, Methyl Bromide Technical Options Committee (MBTOC).

MBTOC was established in 1992 by the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer to identify existing and potential methyl bromide alternatives. There are 39 members of MBTOC—13 from developing countries and 26 from developed countries.

MBTOC members met in 1998 to undertake another detailed assessment of the uses of methyl bromide and its alternatives (available on www.TEAP.org). In their report, MBTOC found that quarantine and preshipment (QPS) uses once thought of as minor have become major.

In the international schedule to phase out methyl bromide, governments under the Montreal Protocol agreed that developed countries would cut methyl bromide consumption by 25 percent in 1999, 50 percent in 2001, 70 percent in 2003, and phase out by 2005. QPS and critical emergency uses are exempt from these controls. Developing countries need to reduce their consumption by 20 percent in 2005 and to phase out in 2015, except for QPS and critical emergency uses. Countries are encouraged to cut consumption faster than the schedules, where possible.

“Initially, since most of the methyl bromide used worldwide was not on QPS commodities, there wasn’t a great emphasis to regulate it,” says Batchelor. “But surprisingly, we found QPS consumption has increased to about 22 percent of global fumigant use for both developed and developing countries.” This is primarily due to the fact that import and export trade throughout the world has been increasing. Methyl bromide is one of the main quarantine treatments for rapid treatment of imports—fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, timber, grains—found on arrival to be infested with unwanted pests.

For more than 40 years, methyl bromide has been widely used as a fumigant to rid soil, structures, and commodities of damaging pests. It has been an effective and economical product. The problem is no single replacement can do the job of methyl bromide.

Many countries have not considered replacements for disinfesting agricultural and horticultural products prior to export or on arrival, and the blanket exemption acts as a disincentive to funding research on QPS alternatives. There are, however, non-methyl-bromide QPS treatments that could become more widely used in the future depending on the pest, commodity, and situation, according to Batchelor.

Some examples of QPS treatments for perishable commodities include cold, heat, irradiation, air or water treatments to dislodge pests, other pesticides or fumigants, and combinations of some of these treatments. Durable commodities have a wider range of alternatives than perishables because they are generally able to tolerate more extreme conditions. Examples of treatments for durable commodities and structures include controlled atmospheres, increased use of integrated pest management, steam, freezing, and combinations of these approaches.

“If we project our minds into the future and think of a time when all uses of methyl bromide, including for QPS, will be banned, critical-use exemptions would continue to allow the use of methyl bromide for QPS in cases where alternatives are not available. In this way, countries could still continue to have quarantine security and minimize the risk of exotic pests being transported across international and state borders,” says Batchelor. “In the meantime, having a blanket exemption for quarantine is not in the best interests of the ozone layer,” he says.

Batchelor says the Australian agricultural industry has been funding alternatives for soil treatments via a levy on imports for a number of years. He adds, the industry is now considering extending this to include developing alternatives for QPS, since it recognizes the QPS exemption may not last forever. Australian growers, however, do not want to be the last country in the world using methyl bromide, as they predict it will be more expensive in the future and there could be trade sanctions against its use.

MBTOC calculated that, globally, 18 percent of methyl bromide was used for QPS in 1992. This is estimated to have reached 15,000 tons or 22 percent of global consumption in 1996, according to the latest figures available. QPS uses are still increasing sharply in some countries.

“MBTOC also identified countries where QPS uses have been eliminated or reduced. For example, Denmark eliminated QPS uses in 1998, relying instead on alternatives and, if necessary, special exemptions under ministerial approval, and The Netherlands has substantially reduced QPS uses,” says Batchelor.

At the 10th meeting of the Parties in Egypt in November 1998, government representatives registered their concern at the increasing methyl bromide use for QPS and requested that MBTOC produce a report addressing their concerns. The report highlighted the additional consumption of methyl bromide, provided options to the Parties for clarifying the definitions of QPS and offered guidance to the Parties on how to accurately report on QPS consumption. Batchelor says MBTOC noted that “there may be some inconsistency in the interpretation of the terms 'quarantine' and 'preshipment,'” which might have resulted in multiple applications of methyl bromide when a single application just before shipment would satisfy the sanitary or phytosanitary requirements of the importing or exporting country.

To assist in this area, MBTOC produced a logic diagram so government regulators can make up their own forms for accurately monitoring, reporting, and differentiating QPS consumption (exempt control) from non-QPS consumption (controlled and reducing in volume). Based on their concern about QPS consumption, one of the options facing government representatives is to put in place compulsory reporting systems and possibly make them retrospective for several years, making it easier to see trends in consumption over time. The Parties may decide in Beijing in November/December 1999 if any further controls for methyl bromide are appropriate.

Treating products before shipment when there may be more time is generally better than treating them on arrival, since even minimal delays in reaching the market destination are important. “I think there will be more effort put into isolating the cause of problems through quality assurance procedures that aim to minimize pest contamination in all parts of the chain,” says Batchelor. “There may also be more pressure put on regulators in the importing country to consider a wider range of alternatives than they have had to consider in the past. The onus, however, will be on technical experts in the exporting country to demonstrate the quarantine security of whatever alternatives are developed,” he says.

Last Updated: October 1, 1999