The Environmental Protection Agency gave the go-ahead for one-year use of a new agricultural pesticide

Methyl iodide, also known as iodomethane, will be allowed to control soil pests

before planting a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

developed by Tokyo-based Arysta LifeScience Corp. as an alternative to the widely used fumigant methyl bromide, which has been banned under an international treaty because it depletes the ozone layer.

54 scientists, including six Nobel Prize winners, sent a letter to EPA urging that the pesticide not be registered for use because of the potential danger to pregnant women and children, the elderly and farmworkers.

lists the chemical as a carcinogen

repeated concerns about the lack of specific tests evaluating danger to the developing brains of fetuses and infants

the EPA instead should "focus on alternatives that don't view us as disposable human beings who can risk cancer and miscarriages in the name of supposed economic gain.