"The lawsuit over California's approval of a controversial pesticide may hinge on a seemingly straightforward question: Did regulators ever ask themselves what would happen if they didn't approve methyl iodide?"

"In an Oakland courtroom today, Alameda Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch presided over a one-day trial about the pesticide, a fumigant approved by state regulators in December, 2010.

Environmental and farm worker groups sued the state, along with Arysta LifeScience, which produces methyl iodide, in January, 2011, contending that the chemical puts farm workers at risk of cancer or miscarriage. They said the state used bad science in approving the chemical, and ignored the concerns of its own scientific advisers."

Amy Standen reports for KQED January 12, 2012. [2]