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Subject:
From:
Paul Cherubini <[log in to unmask]>
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Date:
Sun, 2 Apr 2000 09:27:44 -0800
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John Mitchell wrote:
>
> The active ingedient in Apistan strips is fluvalinate, a synthetic
> pyrethroid. It's naturally occuring cousin is pyrethrum, a plant derivative.
> I am confused about how rapidly fluvalinate degrades. It seems that
> assertions about the potency of fluvalinate depend somewhat on whether we're
> talking about it's use as a varroa treatment vs. its potential as a food
> contaminant.

Fluvalinate is a 3rd generation or so synthetic pyrethroid - a chlorinated hydrocarbon
that is only distantly related to natural pyrethrum. In private tests* sponsored by the
chemical company I work for, these newer synthetic pyrethroids took months to degrade
to undetectable levels. Worse, when foreign countries like Japan and western
Europe conduct routine pesticide residue screening on imported foods, synthetic
pyrethoids are easily detected in trace amounts and these countries have set their
tolerances very low.

By contrast, natural pyrethrum degrades faster (but still lingers in contaminated
food for a month or more) and is not easily detected in routine pesticide
screening unless the amount is 1 part per million or more. Fluvalinate can
be detected at concentrations about 100 times lower than this.

*Tests conducted by the Dried Fruit Association of California to evaluate
synthetic pyrethroids as a pesticide to use in warehouses storing dried fruit
and nuts.

Paul Cherubini, Placerville, Calif.

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