PubTalk 6/2004 — From Strawberry Fields to the Ozone Layer

The Methyl Bromide Story

By Laurence G. Miller, Biogeochemist

• Methyl bromide (CH3Br) is an important agricultural pesticide widely used in growing strawberries and other field crops
• Methyl bromide---much of it from natural sources---is one of the gases contributing to destruction of Earth's ozone layer
• No single replacement has been identified for its use in the strawberry fields
• USGS research discovered bacteria that metabolize methyl bromide and so could help save the ozone layer