Cyromazine - Possible harmful effects?

[Amapola]

Does anyone know about this? It is the main ingredient in a new product called Solitude IGR by Pfizer. Pfizer claims that the safety of this ingredient has been tested but I was not able to find the studies. I did find a paper from the EPA about it.

Apparently it affects the chitin of insects as they develop and so kills them. Solitude IGR is a feed-through fly control for horses - you feed it to your horse, it is excreted in the manure, and the fly larvae from eggs laid in the manure will fail to thrive. The idea is that since this is something that affects insect chitin, it is perfectly safe to feed it to a horse. Well OK, that might be true, but I would like to see the studies.

I'm trying to find out about the safety of this product for a friend. I can not believe she asked me - she usually tries feeding her horses organic garlic, or chanting over them etc. to control flies. :rolleyes: She knows I am a skeptic, and usually never asks for my opinion because she knows she will not like it! :D The Pfizer site just says, "Numerous environmental studies have shown.... " over and over again. Would this be info they would keep private? Thanks if anyone can help me out with this.

[Rolfe]

This sounds like lufenuron, the generic name for a cat (and dog) flea control product trade-named "Program". It has been on the market for years with no significant adverse effects reported that I know of. My cat gets an injection of the stuff every six months. The concept has been discussed previously on this forum as it relates to small animals, and if you do a search on "lufenuron" you'll find it. It's an elegant and neat solution, and I speculate whether the development of resistance is even possible. I'd like to hear Bug Girl's take on the subject.

The only apparent down side is that in the cat (where it is given by injection) it is one of the products that has been allegedly implicated in the occurrence of what is usually termed "feline vaccine-site-related fibrosarcoma" (or "VAS" for short) - I say allegedly because I don't know how strong the evidence pinning any particular cases on Program is. I can't think of any reason for not using it orally in horses if it's been granted a product licence.

I'm only thinking of changing flea control methods because of the VAS thing, and because there are other newer products with a wider spectrum of activity. But I still think the lufenuron concept is neato.

Rolfe.

Edited to add: Cyromazine - lufenuron - not the same word - must go sleep....

[Bronze Dog]

Never heard or thought of anything like this stuff. Messing with insect chitin to cut off pest infestation. [Insert silly kids trying to pass as cool, shouting in unison:] Science is nifty!

[Amapola]

Thanks Rolfe - I looked up lufenuron and found it was (sorry I can't write this the correct way) C6H8Cl2F8N2O3, whereas cyromazine is C6H10N6. So, it is not the same substance, although it does appear to have a similar action. It is good to know that lufenuron is safe though, so thanks for the info.

Yeah, science is pretty cool! :D Amazing how it impacts all of us, even farmers.