Fumigant used in grain storage phased out

The authorities have phased out the use of methyl bromide as a fumigant for grain storage in a bid to protect the ozone layer, an official from the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) said over the weekend.

Methyl bromide is an ozone depleting substance that China committed to phase out by 2015, a promise made when it joined the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 1991.

"Grain storage became the first to complete the phase out among three sectors a total of 210 tons of methyl bromide in 128 grain depots had been phased out by January 2007, fulfilling China's commitment to the international community", Zhu Guangyao, vice-minister of the MEP, said yesterday.