Miller Magazine Issue: 116 August 2019

81 ARTICLE MILLER / AUGUST 2019 Hazards of fumigants There are numerous hazards of fumigants from sev- eral aspects. They can kill humans and animals or cause burns and damage human organs. They can cause fires and explosions. They can cause damage to commodity by their phyto-toxicity (i.e.: germination inhibition, burns), by discoloration or by causing cor- rosion to items. In some cases, they might exceed the legal residues level or produce off flavor and bad odor (Walter et al, 1999). Therefore, a trained fumigator must be familiar with the fumigants registered in his country and know their limitations with regard to their characteristics, the leg- islation and the safety rules. After the decision to fu- migate is taken, a fumigation plan must be conduct- ed. Several aspects must be taken into consideration within this plan including risk assessment. The label Before any fumigation is applied, fumigators must re-read the label. Labels are subject to change. The fumigator must make sure the fumigant can be used at the site, on the specific product and under the cur- rent climatic condition to ensure successful and safe application. In some countries in Europe or Israel, phosphine fumigation is permitted in sites where there are nei- ther people nor animals at a radius of 30 m and 200 m from sensitive areas such as hospitals, schools, retirement homes etc. Another significant consider- ation is whether the location for fumigation is suita- ble for safe aeration to release the fumigant after the exposure time is finished. The fumigator must exam- ine products, items and people presence while fumi- gating and during exposure time. Additionally, when applying in-transit fumigation, the fumigator must en- sure workers’ safety on ships and in ports. Planning fumigation time When planning fumigation, it is crucial to know when the commodity is planned for consumption or removal to another site. According to that, the fu- migator should choose which fumigant to be used. Phosphine, Controlled Atmosphere (CA) or Modified Atmospheres (MA) require considerably long expo- sure times (more than 7 d) compared to Methyl Bro- mide (MB), Ethyl Formate (EF), Propylene Oxide (PPO) and Ethan Di-Nitrile (EDN) which require between 12-24 h treatments (Annis and Graver, 1990, Bond, 1984, Graver, 2004). Gas tightness of the fumigation enclosure The type of fumigation would be selected according to the structure in which the commodity is fumigated. The best option and most rare one is a rigid gas tight fumigation chamber. Gas tightness is determined by applying the half-life time pressure decay test (Navar- ro, 1998). It is a useful tool not only to ensure suc-