Some safety info for you to read- Attn 'No-pest strip' users

I was asking my local hydro shop guy why he didn't carry No-Pest strips the other day. He replied that he didn't want to be sitting in the same confined space with them, even still in packaging, for extended periods and suggested that I do some reading.

What I found is rather disturbing.

Here's a bunch of information from Cornell, and a MSDS:
Dichlorvos
And some info from a surprising source:
Nerve agent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Suicide by insecticide? Eek.
For more reading, google 'organophosphate'.

I'll NEVER use those things in my home. It's one of those 'We know it's dangerous in some instances at high concentrations, have EVIDENCE that it COULD be dangerous in others, and more research is needed' type of situations. They used to think that DDT was 'safe', too.

There IS a cancer risk and also risk of brain damage in children. To be on the safe side, if you must use No-Pest strips in your grow, don't expose children to them, or women of reproductive age. Exhaust your grow to outdoors ONLY, and exhaust well before entering the room.

I predict that stuff gets banned by the end of the next decade.

See now, I always thought pest strips were made for the outdoors anyway. Who would want those ugly things hanging around in their house? The barn on the other hand is an ideal place for pest strips. The best place to hang these strips is in an open-top split door (horizontally split across the middle). You've probably seen those before.

Boy, when you have pigs and cattle separated but in the same barn, you will have flies upon flies no matter what! We really need those strips. One strip will fill up within a single day in the summer. Although, I had no idea they had a nerve toxin. I wonder why. I mean, the darn flies are seriously stuck on that glue. I doubt they could wiggle off it!

Cheese and rice! No matter what I do, I just can't get away from all these cancer causing agents. And here I'm raising my own meats and veggies to provide my family with a safer diet. What are those manufacturers thinking?

Thanks for telling us about this though. I'll likely wash my hands more thoroughly after messing with them now. Hmmm...maybe I should start wearing rubber gloves for hanging these strips.:(

I knew pest strips were effective at killing things, but damn. I didn't know they were so effective at killing people. Thanks for pointing that out, Stinky.

For what it's worth, here's a good resource for anyone wanting to look into organic pest control: Extremely Green Gardening, Co.

(It's a for-profit site, and I apologize if this violates any terms, but it also lists great information on the various pests one might encounter in the home, or the garden.)

Gloves are a very good idea when handling any chemical that you aren't certain is 100% safe.
As for what the manufacturers are thinking... $$$Cha-ching!$$$ Scare your average suburban housewife by telling her that her kids are going to die from some disease spread by the ants in her cabinets... (seriously, you should read the advertising materials posted online for the strips!) Get her to freak out and go buy this toxic product... it even says to use it IN CUPBOARDS!!! Nice.

Oooh, check it out! Thanks for the link.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sauteed

See now, I always thought pest strips were made for the outdoors anyway. Who would want those ugly things hanging around in their house? The barn on the other hand is an ideal place for pest strips. The best place to hang these strips is in an open-top split door (horizontally split across the middle). You've probably seen those before.

Boy, when you have pigs and cattle separated but in the same barn, you will have flies upon flies no matter what! We really need those strips. One strip will fill up within a single day in the summer. Although, I had no idea they had a nerve toxin. I wonder why. I mean, the darn flies are seriously stuck on that glue. I doubt they could wiggle off it!

Cheese and rice! No matter what I do, I just can't get away from all these cancer causing agents. And here I'm raising my own meats and veggies to provide my family with a safer diet. What are those manufacturers thinking?

Thanks for telling us about this though. I'll likely wash my hands more thoroughly after messing with them now. Hmmm...maybe I should start wearing rubber gloves for hanging these strips.:(

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You're talking about a sticky trap. Stinky is talking about a pesticide strip. They are two completely different things. The sticky traps only have glue and are harmless. :thumbsup:

I haven't seen the pesticide no pest strips in California in ages. I think they were banned here a long time ago.

PC :smokin:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stinkyattic

Get her to freak out and go buy this toxic product... it even says to use it IN CUPBOARDS!!! Nice.

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Nothing says "Good Morning!" like a hot cup of your favorite coffee, with just a hint of volatile synthetic pesticides! :jointsmile:

Sauteed is actually talking about a no-pest hanger- the dichlorvos product- which is VERY actively marketed to livestock and grain farmers. Little more aggresssive than flypaper! :D

Uh-oh, I better take a better look at those glue boards for mice. Daang! This frustrating! It's hard to tell what's on this glue board with all these long unfamiliar names. Heck, I can't even pronounce them, much less know what they might be. Ahh, I don't trust it now.

I recall thinking that I should peel these mice off, give them a little thunk, and feed them to my barn cats for a treat ... and a message ( "Mmm..good hey? Yeah, you might wanna try hunting for these. MmmHmm!) Plopping my head down on the keyboard...omg...I'm so glad I didn't do it!

Well then that dog of ours is just going to have to learn how to get along with a house cat. LOL, if I can even catch one to bring it inside! I'll have to wait until one of 'em has kittens.

Let's see...I can't grow a plant to use in the smoker that will calm my bees down, so they don't sting the daylights outta me. Oh but local manufacturers can use cancer-causing agents to poison us without our knowledge! Unbelievable!

Thanks for the heads up. I'm going to take mine down right now.

its never a bad idea to use a natural solution over a chemical solution regardless, plenty of natural means of stopping pests that dont cause cancer

since I've been using them for longer than most of you have lived, I'll keep on risking my health, and report back to you :D ... yes, they do sell them in California, at WalMarts, grocery stores, hardware stores ... Shell discontinued theirs years ago, now they're called 'Bullseye', or something ... cant read the label, since my eyes dissolved ... I wash my hands after handling anything like that, and I haven't eaten one yet, so maybe I'll live a little while longer ;):

Lol reap, just promise that if you DO happen to get pregnant, you'll take them down? :D

sweetie, just so you won't worry about me, I'll quit using them immediately ... besides, the lil bastards will probably die from the Global Warming, anyway ;)

hmmmm, I have had a few encounters with cancer, and am accused of being crazy, too .... a connection ??? :wtf:

Sauteed- You might want to look into this for your barn-

Diatomaceous-Earth.net - 100% Natural Organic Pesticide

Granny:hippy:

Thanks for the info, but I don't think I'm going to stop using them. They say everything causes cancer these days, and since no types of cancer run in my family, I'll take my chances. Plus I'm never really in my grow room for longer than 30 minutes at a time. I never let any kids in my grow room and if my girlfriend gets pregnant (knock on wood ) I'll take it down. For now, I'll take my chances in order to have no bugs eating my plants in my bug infested basement.

EDIT:

Quote:

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When male and female rats were given a diet containing 100 ppm (5 mg/kg/day) dichlorvos just before mating, and with this dosage continued through pregnancy and lactation for females, there were no effects on reproduction or on the survival or growth of the offspring, even though severe cholinesterase inhibition occurred in the mothers and significant inhibition occurred in the offspring.

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Doesn't that mean its not really a reproductive risk? And they were having it fed to them?