Pyrethrum

Production, Chemistry, Toxicology, and Uses

Pyrethrum is a 100% natural and environment friendly insecticide

Pyrethrum is the most widely used botanical insecticide in the World. The active ingredient, pyrethrin, is extracted from the chrysanthemum plant, Dendranthemum (Chrysanthemum) cinerariaefolium, which is grown primarily in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ecuador.

For over 160 years, pyrethrum has been safely and effectively used as a pesticide the world over. The flowers of this daisy, which contain a mixture of pleasant-smelling esters called the pyrethrins, have highly unusual insecticidal properties. Pyrethrins are unique in their ability to repel most insect pests while posing virtually no threat to the environment.

The Pyrethrum flower provides a highly effective protection against mosquitoes, carriers of killer diseases such as Malaria, West Nile Virus and Yellow Fever. The physiological action of pyrethrins is to inhibit the mosquitoes from biting and causes repellency, immobilization, paralysis and death.

Most insects are highly susceptible to pyrethrum at low concentrations. The compound acts rapidly on insects, causing immediate "knockdown." Flying insects drop almost immediately upon exposure. Pyrethrums also are highly irritating to insects, so they may be used as a "flushing agent" or irritant to make them come out of hiding.

Pyrethrum is nontoxic to most mammals, making it among the safest insecticides in use. In fact, it has more approved EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) uses than any other insecticide.

Pyrethrum is a complex insecticide with the following outstanding properties:

• Rapid Action: Pyrethrum is a contact insecticides attacking the nervous system of insects almost immediately and causing knockdown, soon followed by kill.
• Low Mammalian Toxicity: No other insecticide can claim such a long record of proven safety towards humans and warm blooded animals. It is one of the least toxic of domestic insecticides available and is rapidly metabolized if accidentally swallowed.
• Lack of Insect Immunity: The structure of the molecule is so complex that insect resistance to Pyrethrum is not a practical problem. A very few isolated cases have been reported, unlike synthetic insecticides.
• Broad Spectrum of Activity: Because Pyrethrum consists of a group of related compounds, it has a wider spectrum of activity against insect species than many single insecticides. It can be used against any insect found in the house or garden: mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, aphids, ants...
• Environment friendly - Non resistant: Pyrethrum is degraded by the combination of sunlight and air and therefore presents little of the hazards which are usually associated with other classes of persistent insecticide.
• Repellency: Pyrethrum is a powerful insect repellent which in combination with its low mammalian toxicity favors it in many applications, such as food and grain storage protection, personal protection (spray-on, roll-on). Beside repellency, pyrethrum will inhibit target insects from biting.
• Flushing Action: Pyrethrum has a much greater flushing effect than any other insecticide; it disturbs pests in their hiding places forcing them to get out and to get exposed to the insecticide.