Chemically Speaking - September 2006

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Pesticide Potpourri

• The Pesticide Information Office is currently involved with methyl bromide training sessions across the state.  It is important for people that deal with fumigants to have proper licensure for use of these materials.  The only categories that allow the use of fumigants are Private applicator, Raw Ag Commodity Fumigation, or Soil and Greenhouse Fumigation under Chapter 487 or Commercial Fumigation under Chapter 482.  The most appropriate license for somebody working with agricultural crops is the Soil and Greenhouse Fumigation license. 
•  As of late August, Q-biotype whitefly has been documented in five Florida counties (Miami-Dade, Lee, Hillsborough, Suwannee, and Orange).  These were detected in wholesale nurseries, except one, which was also residential.  In most cases the infested plants were hibiscus.  (UF Pest Alert, 8/21/06).
•  OmniLytics is currently field testing phage for citrus canker in Florida.  The trials will be ongoing for some time.  In addition to treating the disease in the field, this research may be extended to fruit, as preliminary results from a packinghouse study indicate that despite being treated with disinfectants, canker infected fruit were able to transfer viable bacteria to non-infected citrus fruit.  (OmniLytics letter of 8/21/06 & The Palm Beach Post, 8/23/06). 
•  Investigators from the Food and Drug Administration are going to examine whether consumers of microwave popcorn are at risk from breathing the same artificial butter chemical that has been linked to “popcorn worker’s lung” disease (Chemically Speaking, April 2004 & August 2006).  This was a reversal from the position the FDA held not too long ago, in which it maintained that consumers are not harmed by the chemical vapors released when they open a bag of freshly-popped kernels.  That statement is based on company safety data that summarized effects when people ate the flavoring, rather than inhaling it.  (Gainesville Sun, 9/12/06). 
•  EPA has announced a new publication, GreenScaping: The Easy Way to a Greener, Healthier Yard.  This brochure was developed for homeowners and can be viewed here to find out how to plant right for the site, conserve water, reduce yard waste, and use pesticides wisely.  (EPA Update, 9/14/06). 
•  Brazilian Agricultural Minister Luis Carlos Guedes Pinto was cited in mid-September as saying that the government would swap illegal transgenic soy seeds for legal transgenic seeds in the upcoming 2006-07 season in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.  For weeks, soy growers in the country's No. 3 soy state of Rio Grande do Sul have been lobbying the government to allow seeds until now considered illegal in Brazil to be legalized temporarily or swapped in the upcoming season.  Farmers who are discovered to be planting illegal GMO soybeans are denied low interest loans from government lenders.  (Dow Jones International News, 9/8/06). 
•  Syngenta announced that it would market aphid-resistant soybeans in the United States for the 2009 growing season.  This aphid-resistant attribute is based on a gene named Ragl, which was discovered in 2003.  According to Syngenta, the gene is not modified, since it was already naturally present in the beans.  By means of several crossings, the resistance was successfully transferred to other soybean varieties.  (Check Biotech, 8/11/06). 
•  The U.S. wine industry has entered the world of genetic engineering as some vintners experiment with a strain of yeast designed to eliminate chemicals in red wine that are believed to trigger headaches, including migraines, in some people.  About 13 percent of Americans suffer migraines, and physicians may suggest avoiding red wines.  It is known that at least a few wines made with the ML01 yeast already are reaching consumers this year, thought the products are not labeled specifically.  A professor of viticulture and enology at UC Davis was cited as saying the biggest winemaking change in the use of ML01 is the elimination of bacteria from the fermentation process, because those bacteria add flavors and aromas to the wine.  The scientist who developed the ML01 yeast, University of British Columbia Professor Hennie van Vuuren, said wines made with it have fared well in taste tests against wines made from the same grapes using conventional fermentation techniques.  (The Sacramento Bee, 8/15/06). 
•  It was reported in July that the Chinese government intends to assign tracking numbers to every single cabbage, carrot and pea pod in preparation for the 2008 Olympic games.  Frequently criticized in international media about pesticide use, the country is doing it to increase food safety.  (Gainesville Sun, 9/7/06).