Just months after consumers lost Dursban as a home pest
control
product, a major maker of diazinon has announced plans to phase
it out of the market.
Syngenta Crop Protection announced Dec. 5 its plans to phase
out the popular pesticide over the next four years. The company
has planned and coordinated the phase-out with the Environmental
Protection Agency.
Agricultural Uses Only After
2004
Other makers will continue to sell diazinon for farm uses
after
2004.
“EPA is assessing many chemicals now on the market as
part of the implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act
of 1996,” said Paul Guillebeau, a pesticide coordinator with
the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and
Environmental
Sciences.
“The FQPA is fundamentally changing the way U.S.
pesticides
are regulated,” Guillebeau said. “Several products have
been removed from the market. And I’m sure several more will be
removed in the near future.”
EPA removed methyl parathion and azinphos methyl from the
market
in the summer of 1999 and chlorpyrifos in August 2000.
Chlorpyrifos
is commonly known as Dursban or Lorsban.
Diazinon was first marketed in 1954. It has been used since
then for both farm and home uses.
Was Great at Fighting Surface-Feeding
Turf Insects
“Diazinon is primarily used to control turf pests like
armyworms, chinch bugs, cutworms, spittlebugs, mealybugs and
aphids,
and pests like fleas and ticks that are found in turf,” said
Kris Braman, a UGA CAES entomologist. “Diazinon and Dursban
were both great products for controlling surface-feeding
insects.”
Many pest-control choices are on the market. But Braman said
losing both Dursban and diazinon will be an adjustment for
homeowners.
“These products are known as the tried-and-true
pesticides,”
Braman said. “And if other chemicals continue to be pulled,
the choices out there will continue to be reduced.”
Read Labels and Pick an
Alternative
Products for fighting turf and lawn pests are still on the
market. “Consumers are just going to have to start reading
labels and selecting alternatives,” Braman said.
“Other materials available now that fit the bill are
Orthene,
Dylox, Talstar, Dipel, Sevin, Scott’s Grub Ex and the newer
products
like Bayer’s Advanced Lawn and Garden,” she said. “The
Bayer products come in blue bottles or bags, so they are easy
to spot.”
As long as diazinon is on the counter, buy it, Braman said.
But don’t stock up.
“You shouldn’t buy more of any pesticide product than
you need,” she said, “because they lose their
effectiveness.
And then disposing of those pesticides would become a
problem.”
On the downside, shoppers may pay more for these new products
than they were paying for Dursban and diazinon. “I hate to
see us lose these products, because they were effective and
inexpensive,”
Braman said.
