> Nowadays, I believe there are bicarbonate products registered
> for use and sold through regular pesticide suppliers. But
> what about the growers using baking soda, hydrogen peroxide,
> cinnamon oils, citrus oils, and other items found in the
> kitchen cabinet for pest control?
The FDA keeps a list of ingredients approved for use as food additives.
Many of these have not been well studied toxicologically but are generally
recognized as safe (GRAS). Here is the part of the FDA website that
contains this information:
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/eafus.html
The list is not entirely comprehensive, but it does contain lots of stuff I
did not expect to see on the list, some fairly toxic substances. Some of
these might be useful biocides or repellents. I guess since many of these
things occur in food naturally it is okay to add them in small amounts.
All of the specific substances you mentioned are on the list.
I would think that substances that are GRAS can be used on crops without
restriction (not all the substances on the EAFUS list are GRAS). But
perhaps there is some conflict with the EPA. Of course, you can't sell
these things as pesticides, but you can probably use some of them yourself.
> I can also assure you that chemical-use farmers are very curious
> about these limits too. When organic farmers are charging
> higher prices and making claims for superior safety and
> food quality, it is simple human nature that the chemical-use
> farmers want reassurance that the home-made and
> new-invention pesticides are OK to use from a legal
> standpoint, too.
Chemical-use farmers? Chemicals are in everything! Why not use the
well-studied pesticides (synthetic or naturally-occurring) rather trying to
invent your own? Efficacy is important, and the really effective stuff
(pyrethrins, fixed copper, rotenone, nicotine, Bt, etc) has probably all
been captured under the aegis of the EPA.
Dale
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