Hi everyone.

Sorry, possibly a little long.
I recently had to update my spraying certificate for work. Although a rushed
2 day course, it was interesting to hear what changes had been made in 5yrs,
since last doing the course.
Basically all chemicals have to be approved. This involves extensive
testing, effects etc etc. Chemicals being tested now, unknown to us, may not
be out for 5-10yrs. Not to mention the increased safety window. e.g. A
withholding period of 7days may well be more than enough.
But an interesting note raised is the use of non registered, homemade
organic recipes. To make a chemical yourself, even if it's all organic and
sell it is actually illegal. Well not so much that, but not approved,
therefore if you were to sell veges, sprayed with a homemade organic recipe,
and someone did get sick, you would be liable. THese have not been approved,
nor tested.
While authorities may get around and randomly test veges/fruit sold at the
local market, they can't test all. Marked as "home grown" or "totally
organic", there is no proof or regular testing. Buying fruit from these
sorts of places may actually be more harmful than your local woolies store.
Woolies/coles etc do test them, and there are harsh penalties for
contaminated fruit. e.g. Farmers A, B, and C all sell apples for sale
through woolies/exporting etc. They each have sold $20,000 worth. The apples
are tested, and if any are contaminated they will be traced back to a
particular farmer, he will incur cost of total worth ($60,000). Apparently
this is how it works.
Now this brings me to bio-neem. We have got this chemical from a local
organics place. Safe to use, no witholding period stated, etc etc, according
to label. For all our chemicals we have to have a MSDS stating all about the
chemical, effects of poisoning etc etc, spills, LD rates etc. We didn't have
one for Bio Neem, but a recent purchase of Bio Neem in a new bottle showed a
new label on it with "Poison", so this led us to get a MSDS.
After a while we received one. THis so called safe/organic oil wasn't that
afterall. The MSDS we got wasn't similar to other ones. It actually looked
as if it was typed up by the manufacturers, not even close to any other
style of MSDS I've seen. No LD rates, no mention of flashpoints, vapour
rates, what to do in case of spills. The funny thing is that it stated that
as of March 03 (or 04) it was to be classed as a S6 poison. Now have a look
at some of the pesticides out there, Chlorpyrifos sp? is an S6. Rogor could
be, or maybe it's just a poison. Only one above S6 is S7. The funny thing
was the statement about what to do if swallowed. Something like "due to the
bitterness of neem oil it is unlikely to be swallowed, but it can cause
vomiting, convulsions, nausea...". Now I don't know how many of you have
smelt neem oil, but it's similar to peanut butter, or something like that.
Read a MSDS for Rogor. It will straight out tell you how bad, effects, and
what to do if swallowed. Now I don't know what rogor tastes like, but
judging by the smell, neem oil would win everytime in "which one would be
most likely to be swallowed due to smell".
I just thought I would raise this point that organics aren't always safe, or
the safest. I don't work for a chemical company, I am not against organics
(I have/do use them occasionally). Organics, that involves biological
control or manual work (hand pulling weeds) are going to be relatively safe,
chemicals won't always be safe.
I would choose a toxic, yet tested chemical, one which states witholding
periods, safe use of product, etc etc over a organic, untested, relatively
unlabelled with no safety info, anytime.
Ok, so now the neem oil is classed as a S6. What caused this though? Illness
led to testing? It still doesn't appear to have a NRA (National Registration
Authority) number on it, so I still don't think it's registered. However,
how many people out there know this, are still using it, have used it on
foodstuff type plants, and picked them the next day. I know myself have used
it at work, got the stuff in my face from drift, mixed it without gloves,
used it in my backyard. While I have a 20month old toddler, thankfully I
didn't use it near her, or on anything edible.
Just my $2 worth.
All the above is my opinion/findings, and not to be chosen over any
directions on a label. Instructions, directions and witholding periods
should still be followed, and as always, read the label.
Cheers
Andrew