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Abamectin (Pest Control Product)


Abamectin is gram positive branching bacteria, Streptomyces avermitilis, and is commercially available for killing mites and other insects including but not limited to ants and roaches. Very small amounts of this product are needed for control.

Abamectin, sold by Novartis under the trade names Vertimec and Agrimec, is a mixture of two avermectins, which are naturally occurring compounds derived from a microbial source. Containing over 80% of avermectin B1a and under 20% of avermectin B1b, abamectin has been optimised for its insecticidal and acaricidal properties for use in crop protection. It is manufactured by a fermentation process, which produces a mixture of eight different avermectin compounds, all of which are biologically active. The abamectin is separated and purified from the other six compounds.

AVERT Prescription Treatment Roach Bait EPA Reg. No. 499-406 EPA Est. No. 499-MO-1
ACTIVE INGREDIENT: Abamectin B1. 0.05% Derived from a naturally occurring fungus, which results in a unique mode of toxic action to the cockroach. The active kills cockroaches by acting as a "gabba blocker." Since this is a highly efficient and different mode of action from many other insecticides, there is a decreased likelihood of cockroach populations developing resistance.

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ABAMECTIN
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The active ingredient of many abamectin products, like AvidTM , ZephyrTM, VertimecTM or Agri- MekTM, is actually a mixture of 80% avermectin B1a and 20% avermectin B1b (FCH 2000). These B1a and B1b avermectins are purified from a chemically complex insecticidal/ miticidal toxin produced by an actinomycete bacterium, Streptomyces avermitilis, found in soil. Although, abamectin is a natural fermentation product of this bacterium, the pesticide is classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a class II toxicity pesticide on a scale of I to IV, I being the most toxic.

 

Mode of Action

Like most other insecticides, avermectins are nerve poisons. They stimulate the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) system, a chemical “transmitter” produced at nerve endings, which inhibits both nerve to nerve and nerve to muscle communication. The affected insect becomes paralyzed, stops feeding, and dies after a few days. AvidTM, used against mites and leaf-miners, is said to spare some of the major parasites of the miner and some predacious mites. When applied to foliage, it is absorbed by the leaves, where feeding insects encounter the poison.

Toxicity

Technical avermectin is quite acutely toxic, with an oral rat LD50 (lethal dose for 50% of the test rats) of 30 mg/kg. EPA reviewed toxicological data from the manufacturer in connection with a 1987 petition for establishment of a tolerance in citrus oil and citrus pulp. EPA’s reviewers found that avermectin does not cause birth defects in rats and rabbits, but can cause cleft palate in mice. The calculated “lowest effect level (LEL)” for the latter effect was quite low at 0.10 mg/kg/day. EPA reviewers stated that “studies on mutagenicity demonstrated an overall negative potential (ETN 1996). Abamectin has been shown to cause pupil dilation, mild skin irritation, vomiting, convulsions and/or tremors and coma in laboratory animals. Because it is a nerve poison, it can also cause nervous system depression in mammals at very high doses.

A study in rats given 0.40 mg/kg/day of abamectin showed decreased lactation, increased stillbirths and an increased likelihood of producing unhealthy offspring, demonstrating a strong chance of similar effects in humans at high enough doses. Abamectin is also very toxic to fish and aquatic invertebrates (FCH 2000).

Environmental Fate

Abamectin is broken down quickly in the soil via photodegradation at the soil surface and microbial degradation in dark, aerobic conditions. The chemicals half-life is about 1 week on an unshaded soil surface and about two weeks to two months underneath the soil surface. It is also rapidly broken down in water, its half-life being four days in pond water and two to four weeks in pond sediment (ETN 1996).
 

Abamectin chemicalWATCH Factsheet Bibliography

 

Extension Toxicology Network (ETN). 1996. Pesticide Information Profiles: Abamectin. http://ace.orst.edu/cgi-bin/mfs/01/pips/amecti.htm.

Farm Chemicals Handbook 2000 (FCT). 2000. Meister Publishing Co. Willoughby, OH. Hoy, M. and J. Conley. 1987. “Toxicity of pesticides to western predatory mite.” California Agriculture 41:12-14.

Moar, W. and J. Trumble. 1987. “Biologically derived insecticides for use against beet control.” California Agriculture, Nov/Dec issue. 
 
Parella, M. 1987. “Pest control.” Greenhouse Manager, November: 105-108. Stinson, S. 1988. “Total synthesis of avermectin achieved.” Chemical & Engineering News, January 4. 

U.S. EPA. 1987. Pesticide tolerances in food. Federal Register 52:17941.

 

 

 

 

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