I'm no expert, and I didn't read all of the long scientific studies contained within it. But what I did read raised more questions than answers.
For one thing, I no longer have small children or pets to worry about. Moreover, when I had both, they didn't eat my garden soil. Second, I tried to get through one of the scientific studies. In one, the method used was to feed the animal (dogs) "large amounts" of the product. ANY CHEMICAL will most likely have deleterious effects if taken at many times the recommended dose.
-e.g. Say I take a pill every day to control hypertension. It works well to control my BP and prevent the complications that might arise from that hypertension. It's a chemical. But if I take a week's worth of pills in a day, or a month's worth, it might kill me... So when a study admits to using "many times" the recommended dose of something, it just doesn't ring true to me.
In the earthworm study "Iron phosphate pellets disappeared at a slightly slower rate
than metaldehyde, whereas those containing Sluggo, EDTA or
EDDS disappeared much more slowly. At the end of the experiment,
the microcosms were emptied, earthworms were sorted from the
soil, counted and weighed (Fig. 3). There was virtually no earthworm
mortality over the 14 days of the experiment, but there were
considerable differences in earthworm weights, although none of
them differed significantly (P 0.05), from the control earthworm
mean weights. The earthworms that were exposed to Sluggo
(recommended application rate) gained significantly less weight
(P 0.05) than those exposed to iron phosphate only, as did those
exposed to five times the recommended application rate of Sluggo"
Doesn't sound lethal, but rather like something which will soon hit the market as a human diet pill.
And they were feeding the worms at 5 times the recommended rate. (Just like a month's worth of BP pills at once might kill a human)
Karen
