By TRACIE CONE

Associated Press

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- The maker of the controversial strawberry fumigant methyl iodide has agreed to remove all of its products from the U.S. market and end all sales permanently.

The U.S. EPA announced Wednesday that Arysta had requested voluntarily cancellation of all of the company's product registrations, which means that the suspected carcinogen will no longer be used or sold in this country by the end of the year.

The company's decision ends five years of legal battles by environmental groups and farmworkers who had fought approval of the fumigant during the Bush administration.

In March, the company announced that it would voluntarily pull methyl iodine from the U.S. market.

Methyl iodide was seen as a replacement for methyl bromide, which is being phased out under international treaties because it depletes the Earth's ozone.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.