The Sulfuryl Fluoride Insanity

Sulfuryl fluoride, a liquefied gas, is colourless and odourless. It is manufactured by Dow AgroSciences LLC in Pittsburg CA 94565, at 901 Loveridge Road. At present this is the only large-scale production facility in the world.

Sulfuryl fluoride is marketed under two different names. As Vikane it is used as a structural fumigant, primarily for the control of wood termites in the warmer climates of the US. As ProFume gas fumigant it is intended for fumigation of food.

When a building is fumigated (Vikane), it is first wrapped in plastic tarpaulins before the gas is released into the sealed structure. In the US it is also used for the fumigation of vehicles such as rail cars, buses, ships and shipping containers.

The Californian experience with this gas is not good as numerous cases show that even when the aeration period had expired and the buildings were cleared for re-entry, symptoms and odour (from the added teargas) were still reported by residents.

According to some studies this off-gassing can take up to 45 days. The Californian Department of Pesticide Regulation claims that residues of fluoride have been found on soft surface household items such as rubber, feathers, rayon and wool up to 40 days after fumigation. And according to the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) sulfuryl fluoride has caused serious illness in California. See: www.Oehha.ca.gov

In fumigated food too was found that sulfuryl fluoride now called ProFume gas can leave residues in stored commodities and remain there for up to 46 days. Under freezer conditions this time lapse can even be 180 days. (1)

Puzzling, in a five page information brochure from Dow AgroSciences on ProFume gas fumigant is stated: 'Withholding period: Allow a minimum of 24 hours following fumigation before consuming treated commodities.'(2)

This conflicting statement is probably the basis for the claim in the Australian report (p.4) that there is no potential for sulfuryl fluoride to accumulate as it gets rapidly hydrolysed to fluoride. And because fluoride occurs widespread in the environment there is nothing to worry about this, according to this optimistic view. Obviously, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority hasn't a clue about fluoride's severe toxicity. And of cause Dow AgroSciences LLC is in no position to know any better.

In 1937 the Danish researcher K.E. Roholm found that fluoride is not only extremely toxic and wide ranging in its effects, but also a neurotoxin, harmful to brain and spinal cord. This was recently confirmed in a review article in the Lancet on neurotoxins by P.Grandjean and P.J. Landrigan; and published on line 8 November 2006. (DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69665-7).

As to sulfuryl fluoride's toxicity, the primary target is the brain. According to the Californian Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment its effect is vacuolization of brain sections. This means holes in the brain. So, the combination of fluoride and sulfuryl fluoride is a double WHAMMY on the brain.

A scientific website on fluoride's toxicity is: www.fluoridealert.org/health

 

The practice of food fumigation with ProFume gas.

This gas is used for the control of insect pests in grain storage silos, warehouses, fumigation chambers and food processing facilities like mills. ProFume gas will also be used on seed intended for sowing and on hay.

The most common pests in commodities are the following ones:

 

Indian meal moth---------------------------------- Plodia interpunctella

Mediterranean flour moth ------------------------Ephestia kuehniella

Confused flour beetle -----------------------------Trilobium confusum

Rust red flour beetle -------------------------------Trilobium castaneum

Warehouse beetle ---------------------------------Trogoderma variabile

Saw-toothed grain beetle --------------------------Oryzaephilus surinamensis

Dried fruit moth -------------------------------------Ephestia cautella

Drug store beetle -----------------------------------Stegobium paniceum

Tobacco beetle -------------------------------------Lasioderma serricorne

Hide beetle ------------------------------------------Dermestes maculatus

Grain weevil -----------------------------------------Sitophilius granarius

Rice weevil -------------------------------------------Sitophilius oryzae

Rust red grain beetle -------------------------------Cryptolestes ferrugineus

Lesser grain borer ---------------------------------Rhyzopertha dominica

Trials with ProFume gas on the pests Anthrenus flavipes, Attagenus megatoma, Lasioderma serricorne and Dermestes maculates demonstrated that it took 2 - 8 days to kill adults and larvae. Eggs required 7 - 30 times more sulfuryl fluoride.

For Australia is proposed a maximum target concentration of 128g/m³ with a maximum fumigant dosage of 1500 CT or 1500 g hr/m³ on cereal grains and processed fractions, dried fruit and nuts. The withholding period after fumigation is a minimum of 24 hours while being actively aerated.

Based on data generated for wheat, rice, barley, oats and corn a maximum residue limit (MRL) of 0.05 mg/kg (ppm) sulfuryl fluoride was considered acceptable for grains in Australia.

But fluoride residues were much higher on the fumigated commodities. In wheat they ranged from 0.5 to 2.1 mg/kg (ppm) for different types of wheat from NSW, Qld, SA, and WA. Fumigated at 1500 CTP, the standard medium residue was 0.89 mg/kg (ppm).

A smoke screen

This medium residue of 0.89 ppm fluoride in wheat corresponds to 1 ppm for water fluoridation and it seems that for this purpose this fumigation dose of 1500 CTP was chosen. This looks very much like a smoke screen to make food fumigation more acceptable. The real practice will be quite different. This becomes clear by looking at Dow's proposed fluoride residues on food, which are much higher.

For wheat is proposed a residue of 25 ppm fluoride (see table). The only way you get this higher residue is by applying a much higher fumigation dose. This dose is not revealed. Therefore, let us have a closer look at the residues as proposed by Dow.

The indication ppm means parts per million

In other countries in general higher fumigation doses are used.

In the USA:

for wheat flour a dose of 1718,1719 CTP leaving 29.2 - 33.5 ppm fluoride residue

for durum flour a dose of 943-1803 CTP leaving 21.2 - 49.7 ppm fluoride residue

In the UK:

for wheat flour a dose of 1814 CTP leaving 55ppm fluoride residue

for Semolina flour a dose of 1595 CTP leaving 82.99 ppm fluoride residue

In Germany:

for wheat flour a dose of 1484 CTP leaving 28.66 ppm fluoride residue

for wheat flour (again) a dose of 2016 leaving 55 ppm fluoride residue

These are a few examples from the Residues Evaluation Report of the Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority. It seems that these residues have been endorsed without doing any feeding studies in experimental animals. How do animals react with these high levels of toxic fluoride in their food? There are no data. It is all computer modelling and calculations with no regard to fluoride's toxicity. A classic example of garbage in, garbage out.

The danger of allowing these high fluoride residues is illustrated by the Chinese experience. In areas with high natural fluoride in the soil, the water in bore holes contains also high levels of fluoride. With 4 to 9 ppm fluoride in the drinking water people developed over time crippling skeletal fluorosis. This happens because fluoride accumulates inside your body. When fluoride was largely removed from the drinking water, so that the new fluoride level became 0.5 ppm, people's bodies were able to release fluoride and the skeletal fluorosis became less crippling.

This means that fumigation with sulfuryl fluoride at doses high enough to eradicate insect pests is a pipe dream. The food becomes so saturated with fluoride residues that it is dangerous to eat. It is in fact poisoned food.

Why at all was there a need to introduce sulfuryl fluoride as a food fumigant? The gas that has been used so far is methyl bromide. However, chlorine and bromine atoms in the atmosphere can reach and deplete the ozone layer. So, there is an international treaty to phase out methyl bromide. But given the toxic fluoride residues sulfuryl fluoride leaves behind, it is clear that ProFume gas fumigant is totally unsuitable for this purpose.

References:

1 Evaluation of the new active Sulfuryl Fluoride in the product PROFUME GAS FUMIGANT, Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, September 2007 see: p.11 under the heading storage stability

2 Evaluation of the new active Sulfuryl Fluoride in the product PROFUME GAS FUMIGANT, Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, September 2007 pp.26-32

 

Here follows a series of photos from a DVD on the Chinese experience. It is called "CHINA'S BATTLE WITH CRIPPLING WATERS".

Photographs

The only country which has gone the whole hog is the USA. A good overview of the high fluoride residues that are allowed can be found at:

www.fluorideaction.org/pestcides/sulfuryl.f.all.food.html

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