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Safety Products

Please be sure to read the product label of any insecticide you choose to use to get information on the personal protective safety gear you will need. In most situations, it is recommended that you wear long pants, a long sleeved shirt, closed toe shoes with socks, chemical resistant gloves, and goggles. In areas where ventilation is poor, a manufacturer may recommend you wear a mask or a respirator. We have put together two different safety kits that will make selecting the correct safety gear easier for you.

Dursban Insecticide - What Are My Alternatives?

By DoMyOwn staff
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Overview

What is Dursban Insecticide?

a hand-held pump sprayer being used outside a house

Dursban (or chlorpyrifos) is a highly toxic chemical belonging to the organophosphates family. Organophosphates are related to nerve-gas. Dursban has been used as an active ingredient in lawn care and pest control products to eliminate ants, cockroaches, aphids, fleas, wasps, and spiders, and other agricultural pests.

How do Organophosphate insecticides work?

Organophosphate insecticides, including Dursban, work by interrupting the electrochemical processes that nerves use to communicate with muscles and with other nerves. This causes a build-up in the chemical acetylocholine. Eventually, the build-up of acetylocholine in the muscles causes over-stimulations, resulting in paralysis an death.

Dursban Insecticide was Effectively Banned by the EPA from Commercial and Residential Use in 2001

After the United States Environmental Protection Agency found Dursban to pose serious health risks to women and children through pesticide residue present in food, Dursban and other similar pesticides were gradually phased off the market beginning in 2001.

Recommended replacement products for this type of DIY treatment include active ingredients such as malathion and deltamethrin. See our list of recommended alternative insecticides below.

More Options for DIY Pest Control

Related Products For:

Ant Control

Roach Control

Flea Control

Spider Killer Products

Lawn and Garden Pest Control

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