When I was a youngster, my dad would have me spray ants around our house with Chlordane. (At the time, it was just ant killer to me). I had no idea what was in it but it seemed to do a good job and it is always fun to kill ants. That was in the 70′s but the product had been around since the late ’40′s. In 1983, the EPA decided that maybe Chlordane really wasn’t such a great thing for the environment or humans. By 1988, they had completely banned it.
So the next popular insecticide I got to use was Dursban. This was from a different family of chemicals and was supposed to be less toxic and able to break down in the environment more quickly. All was right with the world until about 2000 when the EPA said, “Um…about that Dursban you have been using, you probably should stop”. (Or words to that effect).
Next on the list was Dylox, a very common insect control primarily used for grub control. In June of this year, the NIH released a study that frequent users of Dylox were up to twice as likely to develop Type II Diabetes. (If I am going to get Type II Diabetes, I want to earn it the old fashioned way by eating sugar all day and lounging on my couch).
Hello!?! EPA! Are you out there? Thanks for keeping the millions of users of these products safe. Way to be ahead of the curve on all of this. Interestingly, European countries seem to know all of this stuff well before we do. They have been blistering Monsanto about Round Up ready crops for years. Thank God that Monsanto has the deep pockets to keep the machine moving forward.
The latest kick in the sack is Imidacloprid (mostly known as Merit and used for preventative grub control) being partially banned in France and Germany for possibly being related to the collapse of honey bee populations. Fortunately, the manufacture of Imidacloprid , Bayer, did a bunch of studies and said there was nothing to the complaints. That makes me feel better.
Again, where is the EPA on all of this stuff? I realize they are up to their necks in lawsuits over various issues and have to deal with a variety of subjects but can’t they help a brother get a safe product to kill unwanted bugs in my lawn?
(And no, tree huggers, don’t start in on me about not having a lawn. America is Chevy, apple pie, a nice looking lawn, PBR and big fake boobs). God bless America!
