Hello Peter & All,
The subject line is misleading "imidacloprid vs organophosphates". The two
are different in one important aspect and not talked about at all in Peter's
post. Imidacloprid is systemic and the organosphates are NOT!
If the neonicotinoids were not systemic then perhaps I would feel like the
move to neonicotinoids over organophosphates is the right way to go. A
lifetime in agriculture and attending many farmer family members funeral
which died from rare forms of cancer has hardened me! The chemical companies
said DDT was safe enough to drink. Safe enough to handle with bare hands. I
personally do not accept what the chemical companies are putting out as
fact. Go back and read what they said about DDT when released. Of course the
record now has been changed but I was around back then!
The organophosphates when first released. Little was said of the
organophosphates and their war years mustard gas background.
There are other choices for pesticides which are not organophosphates and
are not the systemic neonicotinoids.
Thanks for the post Peter!
Keep the posts coming!
All people need to be aware of what exactly our pesticides are!
Most Agriculture chemicals are made in a laboratory from some pretty scary
stuff and sell for over a $100 a gallon. A friend in the chemical business
told me once that chemical companies at times only had a few dollars
invested in each gallon. To save money most chemical companies want as many
insects as possible on the label and the concoction is strong enough to kill
the hardest to kill insect on the label which means overkill if your pest is
fairly easy to kill. I attended many organic meetings years ago and the
subject of chemical pesticides came up often.
I personally would like to see all applicators of toxic class pesticides
registered and go through training. Only the mildest pesticides available
to the general public.
bob
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