RE: [GWL]: Jeff's thoughts on Merit

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Andy as always sharp as a tack. But this time I remembered and asked Bayer expressly about that impact – songbirds eating the dead insects killed by the Merit chemical.  No impact on songbirds was the answer and references to their research approved by the EPA. 

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: Hamptongar@aol.com [mailto:Hamptongar@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2001 3:35 PM
To: Gardenwriters@topica.com
Subject: Re: [GWL]: Jeff's thoughts on Merit

Jeff Ball's observations about Merit being relatively safe may be true but
one of his assumptions is not.  In most cases Merit will not be harmful to
most beneficials but here are some things to ponder.  Merit is absorbed by
the plant and becomes somewhat persistent in the plant and the plant becomes
toxic to many of those insects that might feed on it.  But what happens to
those insects and birds that feed on the insects that have been feeding on
the insects that fed on the foliage of the toxified plant?  Is the absorbed
Merit inconsequential or can it have a cumulative and deleterious effect on
the food chain?  While I don't propose that it is in any way related to DDT
we should always keep in the back of our minds how that chemical traveled
down the food chain and came back to haunt us.
    Then again, I do agree that the right chemical control used at the right
time for the right reason is a sensible choice.  To have it mass marketed at
the retail level may not be.

Andrew Messinger
The Hampton Gardener

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