By:
Chuck Woods (352) 392-1773 x 281Source(s):
Rudolf Scheffrahn rhsc@ufl.edu, (954) 577-6312
Mark Weinberg maw920@bellsouth.net, (954) 214-3133
Bruce Gingras bgingras@iitri.org, (312) 567-4869
Margaret Juergensmeyer mjuergensmeyer@iitri.org, (312) 567-4918
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—In the search for better, faster and cheaper ways to kill deadly anthrax spores, University of Florida researchers say their findings have been confirmed by scientists in Illinois.
Recent tests by the Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute, a not-for-profit organization in Chicago, show that a common pest control fumigant called methyl bromide is effective at eradicating anthrax spores.
“The IITRI research supports our previous test results,” said Rudolf Scheffrahn, a professor of entomology at the University of Florida’s Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center who has studied fumigants for more than 15 years. The center is part of UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
“We have never doubted the effectiveness of methyl bromide for killing anthrax spores, and the Illinois results conclusively validate our previous data,” he said.
“It is disappointing that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency did not heed the findings we submitted to them last year,” Scheffrahn said. “They continued to recommend the use of chlorine dioxide a gas not previously registered for structural use.”
Scheffrahn, who conducted the initial tests in Fort Lauderdale with Mark Weinberg, general manager of Cobra Termite Control in Lauderhill, said the new IITRI results are significant because live anthrax spores were used for the first time.
The initial tests in Fort Lauderdale used anthrax-like bacterial spores placed in walls, computers and file cabinets, and other hidden places that might harbor spores in an actual anthrax contamination.
“After we conducted our initial fumigation tests to demonstrate the effectiveness of methyl bromide as a spore disinfectant, the EPA wanted confirmation of effectiveness on real anthrax spores,” Scheffrahn said.
Bruce Gingras, a senior scientist at the Illinois research institute, and Margaret Juergensmeyer, a research scientist at the institute, worked with Scheffrahn and Weinberg to conduct the experiment under stringent containment and safety conditions.
“Due to the high toxicity of anthrax spores, we used maximum-level quarantine facilities to perform the fumigations,” Juergensmeyer said.
A total of eight fumigation chambers, each containing 14 million anthrax spores, were fumigated for 48 hours. Only one chamber did not receive methyl bromide.
“After the fumigation tests, live spores from test chambers were below the level of detection nonrecoverable, except for spores in the chamber that did not receive methyl bromide,” Juergensmeyer said.
Scheffrahn said chlorine dioxide is an unstable and explosive gas and may not reach the desired target sites in buildings.
“In the rush to clean up contaminated buildings, a result of the anthrax mailings in late 2001, chlorine dioxide was given emergency exemption by EPA,” he said. “Methyl bromide, an already registered structural fumigant, was overlooked.”
Unlike chlorine dioxide, methyl bromide is stable and non-corrosive, Scheffrahn said. “Methyl bromide won’t damage furniture and computers and can decontaminate a large building in two days instead of the many months required for chlorine dioxide.”
He said methyl bromide fumigation for whole-building decontamination costs “a tiny fraction” of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by the federal government on the Hart Senate building and the U.S. postal facilities in Washington, D.C., and New Jersey.
Scheffrahn said emergency use of methyl bromide, an EPA-registered agricultural fumigant, should not be affected by a looming phase-out of the ozone-depleting gas. Exemptions for methyl bromide through 2007 will allow for an annual use of about 20 million pounds. A tiny fraction of that would be needed for anthrax decontamination.
“When national security is at stake, we need to have the option of using this highly effective and economical fumigant to kill bacterial spores in buildings,” he said. “According to EPA, the 2007 phase-out will not affect at least three uses of methyl bromide, including quarantines, critical agricultural needs and emergencies.”
-30-
0
