How could an argument over the price of strawberries threaten to undermine the world’s most successful environmental treaty?
The Montreal protocol was set up in 1987 to eliminate chemicals that damage the ozone layer. It has been hugely successful in phasing out chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), while the pesticide methyl bromide, the last major ozone-depleting chemical still in use, was due to be phased out by the end of 2004. But US strawberry and tomato farmers, who fumigate crops with methyl bromide, have stuck a spanner in the works.
At a meeting held by the UN Environment Programme in Prague on 26…
