Termite Killer Contributes To Global Warming

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published March 10, 2009 at 12:05 PM PDT

A gas commonly used to exterminate termites and other pests stays in the atmosphere much longer than researchers expected. A UC-San Diego study shows the chemical is a potent greenhouse gas. KPBS En

A gas commonly used to exterminate termites and other pests stays in the atmosphere much longer than researchers expected. A UC-San Diego study shows the chemical is a potent greenhouse gas. KPBS Environment Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

A Scripps Institution of Oceanography atmospheric chemist detected an unknown compound from air samples taken at the Scripps Pier five years ago.

Jens Mühle identified the compound as sulfuryl fluoride.

He guessed the fumigation of nearby buildings was responsible.

But by expanding the sampling around the world, researchers discovered the termite killer lingers in the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas for 36 years.

Mühle: The amounts which are put in the atmosphere are relatively small. So we're not creating a huge problem by doing this.

But Mühle says because of the longer lifetime, large amounts should not be emitted into the atmosphere.

He says the emissions each year are far lower than those of carbon dioxide, so the impact on global warming is smaller by comparison.

The sulfuryl flouride replaced a chemical that was phased out because it was found to deplete the ozone layer.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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