Methyl Bromide Alternatives

Methyl bromide (MeBr) is the fumigant of choice for almost all commercial and quarantine fumigations for disinfestation. Since 1992, it is regulated as a significant ozone depleting substance and it is phased out since 2005 with several exemptions like quarantine and preshipment, critical uses and article 5 countries. The main characteristics of MeBr are excellent effectiveness on insects, mites and nematodes, whatever the temperature if it is above 5°C. The exposure time is between 2 to 24 h, and the dosage changes with the temperature. As direct alternatives, only two fumigants remain, phosphine for all stored products and sulfuryl fluoride (SF) for some stored products and structural fumigations. For commercial fumigations, there are two ways to find alternatives: keep the same technique with a curative disinfestation or change completely the way of the treatment. The same (in-kind) techniques are fumigants, included phosphine gas, controlled atmospheres including high pressure CO2, and also contact insecticides, heat and cold, irradiation and some other techniques. The other way is to completely change the production, for example by introducing a better IPM. For quarantine fumigations, it is much more complicated because all the standards used for disinfestation come from lot of studies carried out in many countries, often long ago, giving international rules, based on the probit 9 (99.9968% efficacy). The change to another curative disinfestation like heat, cold or other fumigants needs new studies to prove the quarantine efficacy which means money and time. Systems approaches capitalise on cumulative pest mortality from multiple control components to achieve quarantine security in an exported commodity. In conclusion, many techniques exist for commercial and quarantine MeBr fumigations but they require changes in habits and many times have economic implications. Nevertheless, the ban of MeBr is a fantastic opportunity to find new ways from old or new techniques.