Hershey’s Dark Secret
This 1994 article detailed a shocking discovery I made by reviewing the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory. Namely, the Hershey chocolate plant was releasing tens of thousands of pounds of the deadly, invisible and odorless fumigant methyl bromide within close proximity of its popular amusement facility, Hersheypark. Since that time, methyl bromide use has been officially “phased out,” as it’s known to be a “class 1 ozone depleting substance.” However, its use is far from over. The EPA still allows for “critical uses,” and “quarantine and preshipment uses.” For example, according to NC Policy Watch, North Carolina has recently received “an influx” of “air permit applications” to use the toxic gas. And even when its use is clearly illegal, methyl bromide is still being applied. In 2015 a Delaware family of four nearly died as a result of a Terminix employee applying methyl bromide inside a condo resort complex in the U.S. Virgin Islands.