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After reading so many posts about using several different dangerous insecticides I wanted to put together a small quick article about some of the different popular insecticides, what they are and how they work.
Neem Oil
Products Containing Neem Oil: Dyna Grow Neem Oil, Einstein Oil Leaf Shine, Azatrol
Neem Oil is different then many other insecticides because it is not a 1 hit knock down. Neem Oil enters the insects system and block their hormones from working properly. It can make some forget to fly, forget to eat, cause their eggs to not hatch, and their larvae to not moult. Insects that are too confused to eat, breed will die off quickly.
Neem Oil also works systemically from inside the plant. What does that mean? Well I'm glad you asked, this means that you can pour a diluted solution of Neem Oil, Water, and Surfactant, on the plants and they will absorb it.
Small pests like Spider Mites and aphids can not penetrate deep enough into the plant tissue to be affected by the Neem Oil inside the plant, so foliar spraying is the only way to get rid of those little buggers.
Additionally Neem Oil also works as a suffocant, by coating the bugs with the Oil so they suffocate.
Toxicity
Studies done when Azadirachtin (the primary active pesticidal ingredient in neem oil) was approved as a pesticide showed that when neem leaves were fed to male albino rats for 11 weeks, 100% (reversible) infertility resulted.
Neem oil and other neem products such as neem leaves and neem tea should not be consumed by pregnant women, women trying to conceive, or children.
There is some evidence that heavy use may be associated with liver damage in children.
Pyrethrins
Products Containing Pyrethrins: Doktor Doom Spider Mite Knock Out, Pyrethrum Total Release Fogger, Don't Bug Me Pyrethrin Spray
Pyrethrins are used in many varieties of insecticide, fogging products and in some pet products and have been used as an insecticide for over 100 years. They affect the flow of sodium out of the nerve cells in insects, resulting in repeated and extended firings of the nerves, causing the insects to die.
Piperonyl butoxide, a synergist, is often used in combination with Pyrethrin, making the mixture more effective by not allowing the insect's system to detoxify the Pyrethrin. Although it is used as an insecticide, it also may be used as an insect repellent. Observations in food establishments demonstrate that flies are not immediately killed but are found more often on windowsills or near doorways. This suggests that, due to the low dosage applied, insects are driven to leave the area before dying. Pyrethrin and the synergists are biodegradable and rapidly disintegrate in sunlight and air, thus assuring that there will be no excessive build-up of insecticides dispensed in the area being treated.
Toxicty
Pyrethrins natural organic compounds that have potent insecticidal activity. Pyrethrins are viscous liquids that oxidize to become inactivated. They are non-persistent, being biodegradable, and break down on exposure to light or oxygen.
Pyrethrins are a natural extract from the Chrysanthemum plant.
All pyrethrins are easily hydrolyzed and degraded by stomach acids in mammals, so toxicity following ingestion by pets is very low. Care should be taken to observe direction labels when using this substance around humans and animals.
Overdose and toxicity can result in a variety of symptoms, especially in pets, including drooling, lethargy, muscle tremors, vomiting, seizures and death. Toxicity symptoms in humans include asthmatic breathing, sneezing, nasal stuffiness, headache, nausea, incoordination, tremors, convulsions, facial flushing and swelling, and burning and itching sensation.
Dichlorvos (DDVP)
Products Containing Dichlorvos: Hot Shot No Pest Strips
(DDVP) is a highly volatile organophosphate, widely used as a insecticide to control household pests, in public health, and protecting stored product from insects. It is effective against mushroom flies, aphids, spider mites, caterpillars, thrips, and whiteflies in greenhouse, outdoor fruit, and vegetable crops. It is also used in the milling and grain handling industries and to treat a variety of parasitic worm infections in dogs, livestock, and humans. It is fed to livestock to control bot fly larvae in the manure. It acts against insects as both a contact and a stomach poison. It is available as an aerosol and soluble concentrate. It is also used in pet collars and "no-pest strips" as pesticide-impregnated plastic.
Toxicity
The EPA has classified it as toxicity class I - highly toxic, because it may cause cancer and there is only a small margin of safety for other effects. Products containing dichlorvos must bear the Signal Words DANGER - POISON.
Dichlorvos is highly toxic by inhalation, dermal absorption, and ingestion. Because dichlorvos is volatile, inhalation is the most common route of exposure. As with all organophosphates, dichlorvos is readily absorbed through the skin.
Symptoms of acute exposure to organophosphate or cholinesterase-inhibiting compounds may include the following: numbness, tingling sensations, incoordination, headache, dizziness, tremor, nausea, abdominal cramps, sweating, blurred vision, difficulty breathing or respiratory depression, slow heartbeat. Very high doses may result in unconsciousness, incontinence, and convulsions or fatality.
Here is the full toxicity report, which is quite extensive:
http://extoxnet.orst.edu/pips/dichlorv.htm
Malathion
Products Containing Malathion: Most products are labeled as Malathion. I wasn't able to find any popular brand names of it. If you know of any, please let me know so I can add it to this post.
Malathion is a non-systemic, wide spectrum insecticide. It was one of the earliest organophosphate insecticides developed (introduced in 1950). Malathion is suited for the control of sucking and chewing insects on fruits and vegetables. Malathion is also used to control mosquitoes, flies, household insects, animal parasites (ectoparasites) and head and body lice.
Toxicity
Acute symptoms in humans include nausea, headache, tightness in the chest, and other symptoms typical of acetyl- cholinesterase inhibition. Unconsciousness, convulsions, and a "prolonged worsening illness" are also typical of malathion poisoning at high doses
Malathion produced detectable mutations in three different types of cultured human cells, including white blood cells and lymph cells. It is possible that malathion could pose a mutagenic risk to humans chronically exposed.
Abamectin
Products Containing Abamectin: Avid
Abamectin miticide and/or insecticide is a Group 6 insecticide. The active ingredient Abamectin is a mixture of nerve poisons know as avermectins. The product is effective against a range of plant damaging mites and certain leaf feeding insects. It affects the central nervous system causing insect paralysis, which leads to death.
Toxicity
Symptoms of poisoning observed in laboratory animals include pupil dilation, vomiting, convulsions and/or tremors, and coma. Abamectin acts on insects by interfering with the nervous system. At very high doses, it can affect mammals, causing symptoms of nervous system depression such as incoordination, tremors, lethargy, excitation, and pupil dilation. Very high doses have caused death from respiratory failure.
In a 1-year study with dogs given oral doses of abamectin, dogs at the 0.5 and 1 mg/kg/day doses exhibited pupil dilation, weight loss, lethargy, tremors, and recumbency.
Rats given 0.40 mg/kg/day of abamectin had increased stillbirths, decreased pup viability, decreased lactation, and decreased pup weights. These data suggest that abamectin may have the protential to cause reproductive effects at high enough doses
Neem Oil
Products Containing Neem Oil: Dyna Grow Neem Oil, Einstein Oil Leaf Shine, Azatrol
Neem Oil is different then many other insecticides because it is not a 1 hit knock down. Neem Oil enters the insects system and block their hormones from working properly. It can make some forget to fly, forget to eat, cause their eggs to not hatch, and their larvae to not moult. Insects that are too confused to eat, breed will die off quickly.
Neem Oil also works systemically from inside the plant. What does that mean? Well I'm glad you asked, this means that you can pour a diluted solution of Neem Oil, Water, and Surfactant, on the plants and they will absorb it.
Small pests like Spider Mites and aphids can not penetrate deep enough into the plant tissue to be affected by the Neem Oil inside the plant, so foliar spraying is the only way to get rid of those little buggers.
Additionally Neem Oil also works as a suffocant, by coating the bugs with the Oil so they suffocate.
Toxicity
Studies done when Azadirachtin (the primary active pesticidal ingredient in neem oil) was approved as a pesticide showed that when neem leaves were fed to male albino rats for 11 weeks, 100% (reversible) infertility resulted.
Neem oil and other neem products such as neem leaves and neem tea should not be consumed by pregnant women, women trying to conceive, or children.
There is some evidence that heavy use may be associated with liver damage in children.
Pyrethrins
Products Containing Pyrethrins: Doktor Doom Spider Mite Knock Out, Pyrethrum Total Release Fogger, Don't Bug Me Pyrethrin Spray
Pyrethrins are used in many varieties of insecticide, fogging products and in some pet products and have been used as an insecticide for over 100 years. They affect the flow of sodium out of the nerve cells in insects, resulting in repeated and extended firings of the nerves, causing the insects to die.
Piperonyl butoxide, a synergist, is often used in combination with Pyrethrin, making the mixture more effective by not allowing the insect's system to detoxify the Pyrethrin. Although it is used as an insecticide, it also may be used as an insect repellent. Observations in food establishments demonstrate that flies are not immediately killed but are found more often on windowsills or near doorways. This suggests that, due to the low dosage applied, insects are driven to leave the area before dying. Pyrethrin and the synergists are biodegradable and rapidly disintegrate in sunlight and air, thus assuring that there will be no excessive build-up of insecticides dispensed in the area being treated.
Toxicty
Pyrethrins natural organic compounds that have potent insecticidal activity. Pyrethrins are viscous liquids that oxidize to become inactivated. They are non-persistent, being biodegradable, and break down on exposure to light or oxygen.
Pyrethrins are a natural extract from the Chrysanthemum plant.
All pyrethrins are easily hydrolyzed and degraded by stomach acids in mammals, so toxicity following ingestion by pets is very low. Care should be taken to observe direction labels when using this substance around humans and animals.
Overdose and toxicity can result in a variety of symptoms, especially in pets, including drooling, lethargy, muscle tremors, vomiting, seizures and death. Toxicity symptoms in humans include asthmatic breathing, sneezing, nasal stuffiness, headache, nausea, incoordination, tremors, convulsions, facial flushing and swelling, and burning and itching sensation.
Dichlorvos (DDVP)
Products Containing Dichlorvos: Hot Shot No Pest Strips
(DDVP) is a highly volatile organophosphate, widely used as a insecticide to control household pests, in public health, and protecting stored product from insects. It is effective against mushroom flies, aphids, spider mites, caterpillars, thrips, and whiteflies in greenhouse, outdoor fruit, and vegetable crops. It is also used in the milling and grain handling industries and to treat a variety of parasitic worm infections in dogs, livestock, and humans. It is fed to livestock to control bot fly larvae in the manure. It acts against insects as both a contact and a stomach poison. It is available as an aerosol and soluble concentrate. It is also used in pet collars and "no-pest strips" as pesticide-impregnated plastic.
Toxicity
The EPA has classified it as toxicity class I - highly toxic, because it may cause cancer and there is only a small margin of safety for other effects. Products containing dichlorvos must bear the Signal Words DANGER - POISON.
Dichlorvos is highly toxic by inhalation, dermal absorption, and ingestion. Because dichlorvos is volatile, inhalation is the most common route of exposure. As with all organophosphates, dichlorvos is readily absorbed through the skin.
Symptoms of acute exposure to organophosphate or cholinesterase-inhibiting compounds may include the following: numbness, tingling sensations, incoordination, headache, dizziness, tremor, nausea, abdominal cramps, sweating, blurred vision, difficulty breathing or respiratory depression, slow heartbeat. Very high doses may result in unconsciousness, incontinence, and convulsions or fatality.
Here is the full toxicity report, which is quite extensive:
http://extoxnet.orst.edu/pips/dichlorv.htm
Malathion
Products Containing Malathion: Most products are labeled as Malathion. I wasn't able to find any popular brand names of it. If you know of any, please let me know so I can add it to this post.
Malathion is a non-systemic, wide spectrum insecticide. It was one of the earliest organophosphate insecticides developed (introduced in 1950). Malathion is suited for the control of sucking and chewing insects on fruits and vegetables. Malathion is also used to control mosquitoes, flies, household insects, animal parasites (ectoparasites) and head and body lice.
Toxicity
Acute symptoms in humans include nausea, headache, tightness in the chest, and other symptoms typical of acetyl- cholinesterase inhibition. Unconsciousness, convulsions, and a "prolonged worsening illness" are also typical of malathion poisoning at high doses
Malathion produced detectable mutations in three different types of cultured human cells, including white blood cells and lymph cells. It is possible that malathion could pose a mutagenic risk to humans chronically exposed.
Abamectin
Products Containing Abamectin: Avid
Abamectin miticide and/or insecticide is a Group 6 insecticide. The active ingredient Abamectin is a mixture of nerve poisons know as avermectins. The product is effective against a range of plant damaging mites and certain leaf feeding insects. It affects the central nervous system causing insect paralysis, which leads to death.
Toxicity
Symptoms of poisoning observed in laboratory animals include pupil dilation, vomiting, convulsions and/or tremors, and coma. Abamectin acts on insects by interfering with the nervous system. At very high doses, it can affect mammals, causing symptoms of nervous system depression such as incoordination, tremors, lethargy, excitation, and pupil dilation. Very high doses have caused death from respiratory failure.
In a 1-year study with dogs given oral doses of abamectin, dogs at the 0.5 and 1 mg/kg/day doses exhibited pupil dilation, weight loss, lethargy, tremors, and recumbency.
Rats given 0.40 mg/kg/day of abamectin had increased stillbirths, decreased pup viability, decreased lactation, and decreased pup weights. These data suggest that abamectin may have the protential to cause reproductive effects at high enough doses
