What Is a Pesticide?
A pesticide is a substance used for destroying insects or other organisms harmful to cultivated plants or to animals. This means herbicides for destroying weeds, insecticides for controlling insects, fungicides to prevent mold and mildew, disinfectants to prevent the spread of bacteria, and compounds used to control mice and other vermin.
Pesticides can have extremely harmful effects to humans and other living things, producing dangerous side effects like cancer, liver damage, and weakened muscle function just to name a few. Unfortunately since cannabis is illegal on the federal level, FDA does not regulate it.
Pesticides used in agricultural markets are not always safe for cannabis.
Spider mites are members of the Acari family Tetranychidae, which includes about 1,200 species. They generally live on the undersides of leaves of plants, where they may spin protective silk webs, and they can cause damage by puncturing the plant cells to feed.
Myclobutanil
Myclobutanil prevents brown patch and “dollar spots” on ornamental plants and certain fruits. This fungicide is considered slightly hazardous by the World Health Organization, due to toxic fumes when inhaled has the potential for nervous system issues. The problem with using this pesticide in cannabis production stems from what happens to myclobutanil at the point of combustion, it is turned into hydrogen cyanide. That means that when a consumer smokes the affected cannabis, they inhale this toxic poison. In high doses, inhaling myclobutanil can be life-threatening. This can be found in the pesticide Eagle20
Imidacloprid
The World Health Organization refers to Imidacloprid as a moderately hazardous insecticide. According to the National Pesticide Information Center, this ingredient is moderately toxic if ingested or inhaled, but because of the way it binds to cells, it’s much more harmful to insects than it is to people. The signs and symptoms from Imidacloprid poisoning are similar to nicotinic poisoning, which include fatigue, cramps, muscle weakness, and twitching. Imidacloprid can be found in Confidor and Gaucho pesticide brands.
Avermectin
The Pesticide Action Network lists Avermectin as a “Bad Actor,” while Avid labels claim that it’s harmful if inhaled.” When given doses that were also toxic to the mothers, Abamectin produced cleft palate in the offspring of treated mice and rabbits, showing that its effects are not healthy. Avermectin is an insecticide found in Lucid and Avid pesticide brands.
Etoxazole
This insecticide for ornamental and landscape plants is not intended for being inhaled. A study exposed rats to a hefty amount of Etoxazole, and discovered that the livers of all of the subjects were enlarged. Although it’s not the most dangerous pesticide, there is no reason that Etoxazole should be inhaled by anyone. Etoxazole is found in the TetraSan 5 WDG pesticide brand,
Bifenazate
Bifenazate is a miticide that helps control a handful of pests on ornamental plants, greenhouse tomatoes, and non-bearing fruit trees. Scientists found that over a 21 dermal study in rats, Bifenazate triggered a decrease in body weights and urinary volume, and caused extramedullary hematopoiesis in the spleen. Bifenazate is found in the Floramite pesticide brand
The Best Approach Is An Integrated Pest Management System.
Many small growers are utilizing symbiotic ecosystems to eliminate the need for harmful chemical pesticides. Lady Bugs, ground cover, probiotic compost teas, and earthworms, may improve plant health and prevent pests from taking over. With care and attention, this approach can work for larger industrial scale operations as well. The cannabis plant also has a natural defense mechanism… Terpenes.