Uploaded October 2012 | Updated September 2026, 11 hours ago
[Click on "Show more" below to see this entire description] Ethylene Dibromide (EDB) is a halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbon used as a pesticide and additive in leaded gasoline the 1970s and early 1980s. EDB had been registered as a pesticide since 1948. EDB was widely used as a soil fumigant to protect against insects, pests, and nematodes in citrus, vegetable, and grain crops and as a fumigant for turf, particularly on golf courses. In 1984, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered the immediate emergency suspension of ethylene dibromide (EDB) as a soil fumigant for agricultural crops. The EPA also announced the cancellation and phase-out of all other major pesticide uses of EDB. The EPA cited significant new evidence that EDB was contaminating groundwater supplies in a number of states. Laboratory test results had shown EDB to be a carcinogen and mutagen and that it caused reproductive disorders in test animals. For more on the hazards of EDB, go to the EDB toxicology profile at atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp.asp?id=726&tid=131 . Ellen Widess, is currently chief of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) the California state OSHA plan. She oversaw Cal/OSHA's pesticide program from the late 70s to the early 80s. Widess has been a consultant on occupational safety and health and immigration policy, and previously was senior program officer for the Rosenberg Foundation. She also has taught environmental law and policy, occupational health law and toxic torts at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Texas Law School. Additionally, Widess has been a director of health policy for Children's Advocacy Institute and executive director of Lead Safe California, as well as an advisor to Farmworker Justice Fund. This is clipped from the 1985 video Enemies at work from the Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) in San Diego. The video discusses the workplace e health and safety in California with interviews that detail the work environment and its effects on the quality of human life. The Environmental Health Coalition was founded in 1980 and is a leader in the environmental justice movement and a resource for community-based organizations working in the fields of environmental health and justice, social justice, human rights, and environmental sustainability. For more about the EHC, visit their website at environmentalhealth.org/index.php/en/.
[Click on "Show more" below to see this entire description] Ethylene Dibromide (EDB) is a halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbon used as a pesticide and additive in leaded gasoline the 1970s and early 1980s. EDB had been registered as a pesticide since 1948. EDB was widely used as a soil fumigant to protect against insects, pests, and nematodes in citrus, vegetable, and grain crops and as a fumigant for turf, particularly on golf courses. In 1984, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered the immediate emergency suspension of ethylene dibromide (EDB) as a soil fumigant for agricultural crops. The EPA also announced the cancellation and phase-out of all other major pesticide uses of EDB. The EPA cited significant new evidence that EDB was contaminating groundwater supplies in a number of states. Laboratory test results had shown EDB to be a carcinogen and mutagen and that it caused reproductive disorders in test animals. For more on the hazards of EDB, go to the EDB toxicology profile at atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp.asp?id=726&tid=131 . Ellen Widess, is currently chief of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) the California state OSHA plan. She oversaw Cal/OSHA's pesticide program from the late 70s to the early 80s. Widess has been a consultant on occupational safety and health and immigration policy, and previously was senior program officer for the Rosenberg Foundation. She also has taught environmental law and policy, occupational health law and toxic torts at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Texas Law School. Additionally, Widess has been a director of health policy for Children's Advocacy Institute and executive director of Lead Safe California, as well as an advisor to Farmworker Justice Fund. This is clipped from the 1985 video Enemies at work from the Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) in San Diego. The video discusses the workplace e health and safety in California with interviews that detail the work environment and its effects on the quality of human life. The Environmental Health Coalition was founded in 1980 and is a leader in the environmental justice movement and a resource for community-based organizations working in the fields of environmental health and justice, social justice, human rights, and environmental sustainability. For more about the EHC, visit their website at environmentalhealth.org/index.php/en/.
