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Led by the Methyl Bromide Working Group (MBWG) and its chief lobbyist Peter G. Sparber, the Barons of Bromide are working on a number of fronts to undermine the U.S. Clean Air Act and thus to perpetuate the use of methyl bromide indefinitely.

Various other corporations and industry associations participate in the transnational effort to perpetuate the use of the Class I Toxin and Class I ozone depleter, methyl bromide.

The Great Lakes Chemical Corporation, along with Albemarle (a spin-off from the Ethyl Corporation), and a Tel Aviv-based subsidiary of Israel Chemicals called the Dead Sea Bromine Group, account for roughly 75 percent of global production of methyl bromide.

Wilson's support for methyl bromide has certainly helped make him a powerful economic force in the political arena.

CorpWatch talks with Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers about their long history of working to ban dangerous pesticides.

Methyl bromide is used principally as a fumigant to control a wide range of pests in soils, commodities and structures. Of the 1992 global sale of methyl bromide: 75 percent was used for soil treatment (nursery crops, vegetables, fruits, tobacco) and over 20 percent was used for the fumigation of durable commodities (cereal grains, dried fruits and nuts, timber), perishable commodities (fresh fruits, vegetables, cut flowers) and structures (food production and storage facilities).

Methyl bromide is a silent killer. Colorless and odorless, it is highly toxic to a wide spectrum of organisms, including human beings. It would be fast on its way out today if it weren't for a small handful of corporations, industry associations and elected officials which have worked stealthily and assiduously to keep this deadly product on the market and in the field.

Photos and words from farm workers and communities neighboring methyl bromide injected fields.

A handful of corporations control the methyl bromide industry. Enter the realm of the Bromide Barons.

The co-editor of Prison Legal News, a Washington State prisoner himself, Wright reports on private companies, like Boeing, that are making out like bandits by using prison labor.