0 1 / ° H B A \ 0 3 :mi r 62nd Year - Xv^i____________________________ MAY/JUNE 1987 A PATCH JUber ¿Bluctrai, 48096 (313-349-7779) (8 0 0 -8 2 4 -8 7 6 9 ) Michigan’s Only Stocking Dealer For R & RPRODUCTS TORO RYAN NATIONAL QUALITY REPLACEMENT PARTS JACOBSEN ROSEMAN YAZOO HAHN-WESTPOINT RANSOMES FORD REEL SHARPENING COMPOUND CUSHMAN MOTT EXCEL CALL US TOLL FREE (MICHIGAN ONLY) 800-824-8769 FOR YOUR SUPPLY ITEMS FLAGS — POLES — RAKES — CUPS WE ARE RICO MFG. ONLY DISTRIBUTORS FOR MICHIGAN, OHIO, INDIANA AND ILLINOIS EXCELLENT QUALITY PERSONALIZED TUBE FLAGS SOLID FIBERGLASS POLES WITH SOLID IMPREGNATED COLOR FIBERGLASS RAKE HANDLE, FOAM FILLED TO FLOAT 14” or 22" RAKE HEAD PUTTING GREEN FLAGS AND POLES - CUPS WE ALSO HANDLE LEWIS AND PAR AIDE REPLACEMENT SEATS FOR GOLF CARTS...TRACTORS...ETC. 19 DR. SARTORETTO, CONT. From what you have learned thus far you can see how doubtful the claim was that a golfer died as the result of dermal exposure to Daconil 2787 which is an insoluble and was sprayed on the grass. No way could Daconil have diffused into his body. It could be argued that Daconil vaporized and that he breathed in a sufficient amount of it to posion him. I will now show you how doubtful this mode of toxicity is with respect to Daconil. Whereas the grass plant breathes through stomates and receives nutrition not only through the stomates but also the roots, we humans breathe through our lungs and receive nutrition through our mouth, and then via the alimentary canal, by digestion into the blood stream. We measure toxicity primarily by the minimum lethal dosage necessary to kill an animal by ingestion. Let us use aspirin as a bench mark to compare with our pesticides. It takes 1750 milligrams of aspirin for every kilogram of body weight to kill 50% of the animals ingesting it. The MLD50 of aspirin is 1750 - that’s about 6 aspirin tablets. An adult weighing 50 kg (110 lbs.) by extrapolation would die from 50 times the dosage or 300 aspirin tablets. In actuality 10 times the dosage or 60 aspirin is fatal - 17.5 grams about 2A of an ounce. Reference is Merck Index. But Daconil 2787 has an LD50 of 10,000 mg. That is six times safer than aspirin. That golfer would have had to ingest 100 grams or over 3 ounces of Daconil to have killed him. That’s unlikely. In my speech on how to avoid phytotoxicity, I generalize by saying insolubles cannot burn, but solubles can and you must excersize caution in their use. We have been comparing an insoluble Daconil with a soulble aspirin. Aspirin is a safe soluble, but there are a number of solubles that you use that are not as safe as aspirin but keep in mind the LD50 of aspirin as a bench mark. You may have read recently about a fanatic that has been killing a lot of household pets in North Carolina by lacing pet food with the pesticide DISYSTON, an insecticide you don’t use but farmers do. The LD50 of DISYSTON is about 3mg. per kg. A cat or dog doesn’t weigh much more than 3 or 5 kg., so a lethal dose is not much more than 20 mg. which is the equivalent of a couple pinches of salt. DISYSTON is a thiophosphate insecticide not much different then the thiophosphate insecticides that you are using, except yours are safer. Oftanol is 10 times safer with an LD50 of 32; Dursban is about 50 times safer with LD50135; and Diazinon is 100 times safer with LD50300. Nevertheless, these are low LD50’s and the concentrates are potentially dangerous. They act on the insects and humans in the same way poisoning the nervous system. Ironically, Granular Diazinon which is the safest of the three has been suspect for use on golf courses in some areas because of unfortunate misuse. They are usually formulated as emulsifiable concentrates dis­ solved in an organic solvent with an emulsifiable agent added. These in turn are to be mixed with large volumes of water, sprayed on the golf course with a CONTINUED NEXT PAGE DR. SARTORETTO, CONT. further recommendation that they be watered in to get to the grubs. The same emulsifiable concentrate can be mixed with a granular carrier such as corn cobs or vermiculite so that they can be applied with a spreader with further recommendation that they later be washed into the soil with large volumes of water. If the corn cob is laced with Diazinon it becomes a teippting poisonous morsel for a bird. Birds weigh less than a kilogram, so all they have to ingest is about the amount of Diazinon thaC is equivalent to the amount of a baby aspirin. Unlike the insolubles, the solubles can be absorbed through the skin. As a rule one need not worry about the diluted spray, but has to exercise caution in handling the concentrates. Wear protective clothing and a respirator when preparing the diluted mixture in the spray tank. Let’s consider a prominant soulble fungicide which has been around for many years and has a startingly high toxicity. Yet you have used it successfully for a couple of decades without any fear that it could have been hazardous. This product is Actidione TGF - an antibiotic! Antibiotics are safe; haven’t we all taken antibiotics, prescribed by doctors? Well, this one has a LD50 of 2 mg. per kg.! But, Upjohn, the manufacturer, did an excellent job of formulating the product so that you received it in a form that was non-poisonous. A product must bear a skull and crossbones label if the formulated material has an LD50 50. By diluting Actidione with inerts so that you received a 2% mixture the formulated product then had an LD50 100. You, in turn were asked to dilute the product with water at the rate of 1 oz. per 3 gallons of water. The diluted spray then had an LD50 37,500. This example emphasizes the importance of excercising great care and caution with the formula­ ted concentrate and at the same time demonstrates the minimal danger of handling the diluted spray. Actidione was taken off the market because EPA challenged the risk factor and Nor-Am made the business decision to drop the product. Following is a table providing you with LD50’s of all the pesticides available to the Golf Course Superin­ tendent. This data was taken from W .T. Thomson’s Agricultural Chemicals 1985-86 Revision. Bear in mind that the LD50 refers to the pure active ingredient so that if you want the LD50 of the formulated product you divide by the percentage of active. For example, Caddy is 20% Cadmium Chloride solution. Since Cadmium Chloride has an LD50 88, dividing by 0.2, the LD50 of Caddy becomes 440. ignore safety Nothing in my talk should be interpreted as a in using suggestion that you can pesticides. Read and follow the label instructions carefully! Read the Material Safety Data Sheet carefully! Follow the manufacturers recommenda­ tions on personal protective equipment required. It is better to be overly safe than sorry. CONTINUED NEXT COLUMN THE “ PEACE OE MIND" PROGRAM -Natural Organic Based -High Analysis * MILORGANITE PROFESSIONAL! i l l ® - 1 DRY SPREADABLE GRANULES: Crabgrass preventer.... 20-2-5 4- TEAM Summer formula.......... 20-3-6 + IRON Fall Formula.................10-5-15 + IRON Spring Valley Milorganite Professional available from: SHEMIN NURSERIES, INC. 6900 Pardee Rd. Taylor, Michigan 48180 (313) 291-1200 20 TOXICITY OF PESTICIDES Expressed as Minimal Lethal Dosage necessary to kill 50% of the test animals by ingestion expressed in milligrams per kilogram body weight MLD50 mg/kg & INSECTICIDES DASANIT NEMACUR OFTANOL MOCAP DURSBAN DIAZONON PROXOL SEVIN METHOXYCHLOR HERBICIDES PARAQUAT 2,4DP 2,4-D DSMA MSMA BETAS AN MCPP DICAMBA PENDIMETHALIN DACTHAL BALAN FUNGICIDES ACTIDIONE PM AS CADDY BAYLETON CADMINATE THIRAM BANNER KOBAN RUGIGAN CHIPCO 26019 DYRENE ALLIETTE FORE FUNGO BANOL DACONIL 2787 TERSAN 1991 PCNB 3336 4 15 32 62 135 300 450 500 6000 150 300 375 600 700 770 930 1040 1250 3000 10,000 2 40 88 363 660 780 1517 2000 2500 3500 5000 5800 7500 7500 7860 10,000 10,000 15.000 15.000 * Serving You Better \ f - y«