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San Diego

When soil drenching with merit, after it dries in the soil, how safe is it? I have a lot of childen around my area and my neighbor is pregnant. They all enjoy looking at my pumpkin patch. I go organic except a few areas. I don't want to risk any side affects on anyone, especially a pregnant woman. Can they breath it in at all or be harmed by touching the soil? Tremor, I know you are an expert, I want to error on the side of caution. What are the facts? And should the area be clear when I do spray? Thanks, Jim

5/4/2010 10:26:02 PM

[email protected]

It's used on your dinner if you eat taters.

5/5/2010 1:54:09 PM

Western PA

I would use caution when dealing with any chemicals and kids. It cannot be safe for kids to handle soil treated with merit, if being spayed it is def. not safe to inhale any overspray.

The concentrations of merit in that treated soil would be a whole lot more then the trace found in the taters.

prob. a good idea to read the MSDS write up on it.

even if a mfg. says it's safe... come to find out 20 yrs from now it was toxic after all, isn't that usually the way it works.

5/5/2010 5:37:22 PM

[email protected]

Kids must be kept away from all pesticides as their own neuro and reproductive systems aren't fully developed yet.

That said, the FDA & EPA are much more qualified to ascertain these risks than we are. Farmers (as am I) are licensed to safely apply pesticides to many edible food crops.

There are re-entry intervals on all the labels.

http://www.cdms.net/

5/5/2010 6:00:03 PM

San Diego

thanks for the reply and info!

5/5/2010 9:03:00 PM

Northern Cambria, Pa.

It seems strange that we have been applying Merit directly to our pets at I believe 9% solution for years to kill fleas.
http://www.apnm.org/publications/resources/fleachemfin.pdf
I suppose that at some point in the future we will be told that this, like many other products in the past, was really bad for us and our pets.

5/6/2010 8:31:00 AM

[email protected]

I don't know Larry. I've been doing this a long time. Over 25 years.....

They made the same claims about DDT. After the ban some 30 million have died from Malaria. Yet DDT was the safest insecticide ever developed by man. That egg shell thing was false. DDT was so good that patented Dursban was collecting dust however DDT was off patent so no longer worth protecting.

Now Dursban is gone. It WAS somewhat MORE dangerous but politics and science never meet.

Diatribe coming on...LOL

In my prior life I was a political activist often speaking to audiences on behalf of the misconceptions surrounding pesticides vs public safety. Even got televised on NY Public TV a couple times.

The NY lawn care crowd still tries to get me back but I choose my fights selectively today. LOL

I was the worlds largest Merit salesperson for 2 years. Other than an $8000 trip to Scotland to play the old course at St. Andrews, but brother Bayer got a lot richer than I did.

Bayer bent over backwards to place me with an "approved distributor" after the Lesco/John Deere thing but life in the post-patent world has been OK.

Look at it this way.

In 2001 I sold $1.3 million of patented Merit 2F to one client for $850/gallon. (and that was below cost!)

This year I'm selling generic imidacloprid for $135/gallon and the price is DROPPING as I type. LOL

Bayer had a real cash cow with Merit just like DDT.

I was lucky. In 1983 I was still in school. At the Yale forestry school we got to play with imidacloprid ever before Bayer bought it from Lely. Many pioneers of our business were there.

....The stuff I know about the falsehoods regarding mycorrhizae will rock foundations if we ever go public...LOL

5/6/2010 9:44:37 AM

[email protected]

Larry,

You're not home. Call me.

Steve

5/6/2010 10:02:43 AM

Northern Cambria, Pa.

If you calculate the amount of imidacloprid in a packet of flea drops that cost from $30 to $40 dollars, it must come out to about $10,000 per gallon or more...lol

5/6/2010 10:02:50 AM

[email protected]

Great talking this morning Larry. We should do this more often.

I'm sorry I became distracted. Bandit is a great dog. The most intelligent boxer I've ever met. Great watchdog too. But he commands attention as only a wise aleck can.

5/6/2010 1:22:40 PM

sevierville, Tn

So we can spray our pets at the same time as our pumpkins with merit & kill 2 pests & be more cost effective ? LOL

5/6/2010 3:22:47 PM

[email protected]

No...you buy pet meds from his vet or http://www.1800petmeds.com/index.jsp?AFFID=GG&ID=159740014

5/6/2010 3:46:26 PM