Tue, 22nd January 2008
Ammonium Sulphamate Weed Killer Banned!
It’s never been a cheap weedkiller, there’s not the volume to give real economy of scale, but it is very effective. It’s taken right down to the plant roots and it’s the most effective way to deal with an infestation of horse tail.
Because it is a simple chemical the environmental effects are easy to judge. When it is sprayed onto the soil any plants will die but gradually the effect of the oxygen is to turn it back into sulphate of ammonia, the fertiliser.
The worst case scenario is that the soil is made slightly more acid and the NPK balance gets affected for a short while.
This simple chemical formulation means that we know the risks to human safety pretty clearly. They’re not much different to the fertilizer. Obviously you’re not going to eat it in the same way you’re not going to eat a bag of fertilizer and if you did try the acidity and taste would stop you taking in enough to do harm.
Ammonium Sulphamate Banned!
The glorious EU, home for more bureaucrats than Whitehall, demands that manufacturers of pesticides supply a complete dossier on their product. That sounds a good idea - we don’t want another DDT Silent Spring. Let’s be safe. The term pesticide is taken to include:
- insect killers (insecticides)
- mould and fungi killers (fungicides)
- weedkillers (herbicides)
- slug pellets (molluscicides)
- plant growth regulators
- bird and animal repellents, and
- rat and mouse killers (rodenticides)
So our simple, effective and safe product must supply a complete dossier at the expense of the manufacturer. To quote from the government web site on pesticides regarding the withdrawal of products (my emboldening):
The company decides not to support the active substance through the review. This often happens if the pesticide is old and there are already more modern pesticides on the market, or because sales of the pesticide have fallen. It would not make sense for a company to spend a large amount of money supporting an active substance in the review if they could not get this back through sales of the pesticide.
So, as gardeners, we are unable to use a product known to be safe logically and proven safe for years because they suppliers cannot afford to prove it is safe.
It Gets Worse!
Now that we cannot get Amicide, Deep Root, Growing Success Bramble Killer, Root Out and other brands that contained ammonium sulphamate we’re effectively stuck with one product - glyphosate.
We’ve had a raging debate on the forums about the safety of glyphosate. It’s a complex chemical and there are conflicting views about its safety both environmentally and in its effects on human health.
My own view is that it is safe to use occasionally and carefully but not as safe as the simple, old fashioned ammonium sulphamate.
It’s also a weedkiller associated with gene modified crops, Make the crop resistant to the weedkiller and you can spray, spray, spray leaving the crop saleable. Note I say saleable not safe and healthy. Very profitable though, profitable enough to ensure the correct results are provided to the EU.
Conclusion
Good intentions carried to extremes by bureaucrats who can follow rules in great detail but cannot use common sense means we are denied a great safe product and the multi-national chemical conglomerate is sitting with a large smile.
Filed under Rants and Raves by John
Comments on Ammonium Sulphamate Weed Killer Banned! »
Weedball @ 11:54 pm
We have that same problem here in the U.S. Do-good politicians who have no clue are influenced by big-money lobbyist. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Round-Up people had something to do with it.
Today it has less to do with what is right and more to do with how much money and influence you have.
Nigel Roberts @ 12:40 pm
Ammonium Sulfamate can still be bought and used as a compost accelerator. Its Nitrogen is good at breaking down tough and woody compostable matter. It is also sold as a flame retardant.
Dax Products did supply a data pack to the authorities. However the Regulators decided to declare it incomplete because it did not have the results of animal testing on Dogs and the authorities were not prepared to review the data that had been provided and which independent experts felt was sufficient for an evaluation. Dax felt that UK Ministers demands on animal testing having to be justified and necessary were being ignored by the Regulators to suit their own ends and that too much suffering and too many deaths would be pointlessly caused by the Regulators intransigence.
John @ 8:24 pm
Thank you for that in-depth explanation, Nigel. What a crazy world we’re living in.
M Anthony @ 11:41 pm
The banning of ammonium sulphamate is a terrible blow to the environment! The best way of combating the ongoing alien plant introduction disasters, gone.
People, please make a fuss about this - write to papers, email BBC etc en mass.
M A
Lindowpete @ 6:56 pm
Just seen some on Ebay. Would I be breaking the law if I bought this ?
Mark @ 12:03 pm
It will be illegal for you to use any product containing ammonium sulphamate after 22 May 2008.
John @ 7:20 pm
I think it was a class C weedkiller but it’s now class B - or am I confused?
Nigel Roberts @ 2:00 pm
It will NOT be illegal for you to use ammonium sulphamate after 22nd May 2008. It is just that you will not be allowed to use it as a pesticide. You can still buy Ammonium Sulphamate / Root-Out and use it as a compost accelerator - just DO NOT spill any on the weeds, brambles, Japanese Knotweed, Marestail, tree stumps etc. on the way down to the compost heap.
bryan wakefield @ 12:59 pm
Having spent the spring searching for Ivy Killer I now know why I can not find any. The Irish are so right in saying No, pity wee do not have a chance aswell
Andy Street @ 1:11 pm
The ‘old’ SBK recommended mixing with water and Parafin, the new SBK has no mention of parafin on the container! I have tried SBK with and without parafin and the use of the parafin certainly increases its ‘killing’ power
Taf @ 5:48 pm
Growing Success Deep Root Weedkiller Gel has been a godsend this year as the neighbour has a mini forest of horsetails that he refuses to remove.
The fusewire roots are now getting into my garden and throwing up herbage, and the ammonium sulphamate gel is the only cure I have found.
Damn the EU!
Andy Tate @ 1:52 pm
Oh thank god I have found some like minded sensible people - just a pity there are none in the EU that make and implement these silly rules.
Very interesting information from Nigel Roberts about Dax applying. Last year I did email Growing Success - makers of “Ivy Killer” and asked them why they had not applied to keep the product. I got no answer - suppose I was daft to have expected one. All they do is re-formulate it - stick the words “New Improved” on it and use glyphosphate instead.
I bought up the very last of our local Scats stock of Ivy Killer last November when I heard it was going off market.
I love the explaination “sulphate of ammonia the nitrogen fertiliser but made crooked” and agree with the worries about glyphosate. As said by others its the commercial pressure of genetically modified crops (Monsanto maybe) that keeps that going and good old simple weedkillers die.
How about Sodium Chlorate - will that be next?
Cheers,
Andy..
Margaret Johnson @ 9:41 am
I came accross this site while looking for a supplier of sulphate of amonia. I feel I MUST SAY .
Sodium Chlorate is an entirely different weedkiller to Sulphate of amonia Sodium chlorate is highly volitile when exposed to heat, stays in the soil for anything up to a year and when it rains may travel far more than sulphate of amonia thereby causing a hazard to other plants,. including maybe those of your neighbours, that you would not wish to be rid off, where-as Suphate of amonia degrades over a period of six to eight weeks. Therefore Sulphate is safer on this count alone. Glyphosate being a weedkiller supplied in liquid form is dangerous to have around especially where there are children who cannot read labels and so a safety cap has to be used this can cause imense problems for people who have difficulty with their hands and wrists eg Arthritis and makes it more likely that the product will be transferred to an unlabled container for ease of use. Unfortunately this is where it becomes even more dangerous most weed killer deaths have occurred when the fluid is mistaken for a soft drink. Sulphate of amonia on the other hand is supplied as a chrystal and is less likely to be ingested, on this count alone the chemical is safer than any other garden weedkiller.