I found some toxic old insecticides

[@bersl2]

I love how flies immediately landed on the DDT bottle.

[@justaguycalledjosh]

The demeton-S-methyl too. "This is potentially an extremely toxic substance" Fly: Damn, that's gotta be the GOOOOOD shit. Lemme get some of that!

[@Nmethyltransferase]

That's the reason it was outlawed, in the first place. The insects developed resistance to it. Then, they acquired a taste for it. Now it's like crystal meth for them!

[@Armuotas]

It's like a person sitting on a shipping container packed with Sarin gas cans. "This is fine!"

[@Snarkbar]

Serves 'em right!

[@Flesh_Wizard]

When you just aren't ok😔

[@Srfingfreak]

The fun part is storing a bunch of different open containers in the same box so their vapors can comingle and make exciting new compounds.

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

the bad chemicals will cancel each other out and be safe

[@Br1cht]

@@ExtractionsAndIre That’s pure Chud energy, Metokur would be proud! O7

[@tehpanda64]

that's how you create the ultimate pesticide, just like how mixing cleaning products makes the ultimate cleaning agent. /S

[@Zlorthishen]

@@ExtractionsAndIre two wrongs don't make a right, but three rights make a left

[@talideon]

@@ExtractionsAndIre That's just asking to create accidental yellow chemistry!

[@_binchild3841]

The best part is that every time he pulls a new bottle out, it feels like watching a very confused wine connoisseur. "ah, yes, Carbaryl 2017. a personal favourite"

[@mesiroy1234]

Nile red is much more reckless

[@vikramkrishnan6414]

@@mesiroy1234 Nilered would try and mix it with his urine to create a cherry flavor or something

[@pigmentpeddler5811]

@@mesiroy1234 who asked?

[@rowandoyle7]

As a wine chemist that's such a weird mixing of my two trainings😂

[@suspectsn0thing]

@@rowandoyle7 As in a wine taster who's also a chemist, or someone who works with the chemistry of wine?

[@Puffie40]

My mom told a story of a guy in her hometown that worked on a orchard for decades, and he would get deathly sick when he tried to exercise to lose weight. The doctors figured out there was so much pesticide absorbed into his body fat that it would start to poison him when his liver tried to metabolize the fat.

[@MarbRedFred]

I’m not very chemistry savvy nor am I a professor of human biology/chemistry sooooo if you know could you share how this poor guy was treated? Or was he told to continue living like my fellow American? Aka stay fat bruh! It’s saving your life!

[@Puffie40]

@@MarbRedFred I don't know, but he was effectively banned from exercise as it would put his health at risk. Liposuction could have been a potential treatment to remove the pesticides, but you would need to take medication to liquefy the fat first before you can suck it out, and that would have make the pesticides go into the body.

[@tropicalsnow]

@@MarbRedFred liposuction?

[@technophant]

Emergency liposuction

[@neolexiousneolexian6079]

So bioaccumulation isn't a problem as long as you never exercise, is what you're saying?

[@jimurrata6785]

I'd love to see you do a video about banned paint pigments. Us old folks still remember lead paint (red, brown, ochre, black, white, purple, etc) dioxin purple. Cadmium red, orange, yellow. Chrome green and yellow. Cobalt blue. Antimony black, Vermillion red (Cinnabar). Kings Yellow (arsenic sulfide) The list goes on and on. The _MOST_ exciting thing I ever found in a dead man's basement was a wooden crate of dynamite. Badly deteriorated and shiny wet with ng that had leached out through the wrapping!

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

Good idea, I like that! And wow that’s quite a find….

[@jimurrata6785]

@@ExtractionsAndIre Scared the hell out of me.... 😳

[@thomasbaker6563]

Had he died in an accidental explosion?

[@jimurrata6785]

@@thomasbaker6563 old man passed away. His wife wanted "the clutter" cleaned out. 😲

[@kev2034]

A lot of old paints have been preserved for museums and paint makers, turns out sometimes you really need mummy brown to restore an old painting

[@moltrescompany]

This brings back the old conundrum "does expired poison get more or less toxic?"

[@sashimanu]

Less toxic for the intended recipient, more toxic for the collaterals

[@JJayzX]

yes

[@cfaytinger]

You nailed it. Expired poison is more or less toxic.

[@frogz]

Yes

[@kleetus92]

Thought you were gonna say, does your chewing gum lose its flavor... ?

[@nedf2357]

Tom has a unique skill of acquiring old outlawed illegal chemicals from the past. With the amount he talks about the 60s I’m convinced he has a Time Machine

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

If I had a time machine I wouldn’t let the bottles get so damn rusty!

[@alexrogers777]

@@ExtractionsAndIre if you do find a chemical disposal place see if you can check out what old chemicals they have maybe? Really loved this style of video actually Also, is there any chemistry that could be done with these chems before tossing them?

[@AsymptoteInverse]

If he had a time machine, he'd've been able to make fulminating platinum...

[@keithcarpenter5254]

@@ExtractionsAndIre Couldn't your university chem dept. help with the disposal?, or swaps! Lol.

[@imazekk752]

@@ExtractionsAndIre We've seen your way of "taking care" of your stuff, don't lie to us like that

[@zuthalsoraniz6764]

If you want to more easily remember what DDT's full name is, just use this handy limerick: A mosquito was heard to complain: "A chemist has poisoned my brain!" The cause of his sorrow was para-dichloro- diphenyltrichloroethane

[@NewChiqueChloe]

I will for sure remember this limerick in 43 years when I next need to know the full name of DDT. Bless

[@Kenionatus]

Mh yes, very helpful. Almost reminds me of a quarter of the name.

[@JustinAlexanderBell]

Yes this just rolls off the tongue

[@AsymptoteInverse]

@@NewChiqueChloe You should also brush up if you're planning a trip to Nantucket.

[@lettersnstuff]

sorrow and chloro don’t rhyme in my accent. do another one

[@RobBoss757]

The most humorous thing about this episode is that he's telling how damn deadly these things are and how brutally it could mess you up..... Flys just landing on these containers like "whatcha got there bud?!" "This smells familiar!"

[@Sam-ob4of]

*flIES

[@vincedibona4687]

“They’ll just fucking die later.”

[@eylookvulheimiik7538]

When my dad moved into our old house, he found two 25 pound bags of DDT based pesticide powder. He called the EPA to ask what to do and they didn't believe we had it

[@bluemobster0023]

So what ended up happening?

[@-Yogo]

Gotta love Tom talking about these compounds like a sommelier at a fine dining restaurant "This fine example of a DDT '64 brings a lovely toxicity to the table, it really opens up the myxomatosis on the palate. It pairs wonderfully with the roast rabbit and greens"

[@kriegh94]

underrated comment lol

[@Xw3dn3sd4yX]

The use of the word 'vintage' wrapped it up nicely lol

[@seaoftranquility7228]

There was even a Bordeaux.

[@dakkamaster12]

If you’re planning to take the stuff to poison control it might make an interesting video if they’d be willing to show the process of how they store/dispose of the material.

[@calemartin5398]

I was thinking about this!

[@sketchyAnalogies]

100% agree!

[@SeanBZA]

Most of the organics will go through high temperature incineration, but the copper and lead arsenate will instead simply be taken to a hazardous waste landfill instead, as they can survive the incinerator. The others, as they are small volumes, will also easily go into the same hazardous waste landfill. Compacted and covered over with ground fill at the end of the day in the active lined cell, left to finally decompose after a few hundred years, next to all the medical waste.

[@JamesChurchill]

Yeah, nothing you can do to destroy toxic heavy metals, just got to stick them back in the ground and make sure they stay there.

[@sommersetcoker5455]

@@SeanBZA jeee whizz, thats horrifying...

[@aeromedic5824]

Before I was married with a kid, I was a Haz-Mat tech and medic. Of all the stuff you've used and shown over the years, the organophosphates are the ones that scare me most. I've treated many poisonings from organophosphates (Canadian Prairies, every farm has hundreds of liters of the stuff). They have a nasty habit of getting more toxic through concentration and reaction while stored and are readily absorbed through any route. The most severe I've dealt with have been from people cleaning out old sheds and barns and spilling/inhaling these lovely things.

[@dmwalker24]

100% As a biologist, I find the organophosphates to be absolutely terrifying.

[@cheshirecynic3061]

So, I grew up spraying malathion and paraquat for my grandpa without any mask or gloves, typically ending up with a headache while doing so. Grandpa ended up with a severe case of Parkinson's before he passed away. I'm 33 now and can't point out any obvious negative effects, but realistically, how concerned should I be for my future?

[@dmwalker24]

@@cheshirecynic3061 Our hazmat tech above may have more complete info than I do. Of course the most serious risks are from acute exposure, but my understanding is that long-term exposure has risks associated with the mutagenic properties of the chemicals. I would think you might want to have some periodic screenings for anything out of the ordinary. There's a good chance it won't cause you any problems, but if it does then the best defense is to identify them as early as possible. Regular checkups, and making sure your physician is aware of your history.

[@cheshirecynic3061]

@@dmwalker24 I appreciate the feedback. I have some minor shakiness already from an OD when I was young and dumb, but it's definitely something that I keep an eye on in case it ever progresses. I really don't want to end up like my grandpa.

[@thewolfin]

Reagan went allout war on Polio (believed to be spread by houseflies, at the time) and DDT sales went through the roof. Funnily enough, organophosphates can cause paralysis... Feedback loop, anyone?

[@EvelynnEleonore]

whenever one of your old vids gets recommended to me after i finish something i watched on youtube i go back & watch them again. congratulations for the position of being my Emotional Support Australian

[@tuoppi42]

One friend of mine asked some years ago what would be a good pesticide, as small ants were becoming a problem in the apartment house he lived in. There had been an old lady who had taken care of them, but the old lady had died and the yellow round container she had used to dust the corridor near the entrance (where the bugs came in from) was nowhere to be found. I recognized the description of the package, my granny had that stuff too. DDT, Finnish brand name "täystuho", translates to "complete destruction". My friend had to settle for lesser chemicals available today to sort out his ant problem.

[@raymondfrye5017]

Instead of pesticides remember that all insects are attracted to food and water. Discipline in not leaving traces and sealing garbage is first defense.

[@stinkothestooleater4490]

Or just don't leave food out and clean your house.

[@ownageDan]

diatomaceous earth kills ants easily. no need for poison.

[@chemistryofquestionablequa6252]

​@@stinkothestooleater4490 that's not always enough if you live in a place with high ant populations. You still need sometimes like ant&tick granules.

[@chemistryofquestionablequa6252]

@@tripplefives1402 hard to do when the colonies are under your house unfortunately.

[@AsymptoteInverse]

13:04 Story time! I used to work for a company that occasionally distributed an injectable form of demeton-s-methyl (correction: it was oxydemeton-methyl, which I believe is similarly nerve-gas-y.) (Think of a hypodermic needle, but for trees.) The box was absolutely plastered with scary red warning stickers, and when the injectors had been used, there were very, very strict orders to immediately put them back in the original box, put that box in two or three plastic bags, and send the bagged boxes back to the manufacturer for proper disposal. Which is about as exciting as the fertilizer world gets. Edit: A client of that company occasionally applied pesticides (they did tree and plant maintenance). They were cleaning out their large-scale pesticide shed, and discovered, much to their horror, a 55-gallon (208-liter) drum of some sort of mercury-based pesticide, which caused them endless sorrow. I wish I could remember *which* pesticide. Second Edit: My favorite curiosity about modern, safer insecticides is that they're still absolutely horrific, war-crime level nerve gas--to insects. Imidacloprid & co. might as well be Sarin or VX if you're a bug, but as long as you don't use it as suntan lotion, it's relatively harmless to humans. Shame about the bees, though.

[@johnsmith-sp6yl]

no fleas on me thanks to DDT

[@AsymptoteInverse]

@@johnsmith-sp6yl An excellent profile picture!

[@ericyoung7049]

Perhaps your colleague's mercury-based compound was a seed treatment, such as methylmercury? See also the 1971 Iraq poison grain disaster, and the 1969 Huckleby mercury poisoning cases in New Mexico. I had a prof back in college who had a large sack of DDT in the shed that he half-jokingly referred to as his "backup" in case the bugs got out of control in the greenhouse. Same guy used a handsaw to cut asbestos boards for the greenhouse benches, using little more than a handkerchief for respiratory protection. He died in '21 at the age of 85, quite a character. Many years ago, I had a buddy call me up because he found a bottle of heptachlor in the shed of the home he rented! He dutifully took it to a hazardous waste disposal site, in part from my recommendation.

[@sashimanu]

But did someone get a needle stick injury despite all those scary labels and containment measures?

[@emislive]

Phenylmercury acetate?

[@gresvig2507]

Neat. Makes me recall visiting a buddy in high school-- his dad was an entomologist prof at NCSU and had one of those old child killing latching refrigerators in the barn. He stored a huge amount of experimental pesticides in it, and the smell hit you before you were even in the room. Also never saw a single bug at the place. And I looked.

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

A lot of these were stored in an old style fridge as well! Must have been the style. The shed was pretty low on spiders come to think of it, and yeah the smell from the fridge was probably why

[@endlesswanderer1753]

I guess if you were an entomologist, you either had to really love or really hate insects. Collecting or making fun new ways to eradicate them makes me think his father leaned towards the latter.

[@wrcNCSU2013]

I prob took his class! I went to ncsu for plant and soil science and we went over all the insecticide modes of action and it was awesome! I’m also a certified arborist and am very skilled at eradicating xylem and pholem feeding bark beetles and leaf scaling insects!

[@mikepatrona472]

Such a rewarding job to see a date palm looking like shit hit it with ima jet come back in 90 days and it’s coming back. I felt like a budget DR

[@redtobertshateshandles]

I remember some fruit sprays my dad used had weird smells.

[@smolzillamakes]

The DDT stuff effected egg shells of birds and made them weak. Lowered their nesting number way down. I think a book called Silent Spring or something like that helped to convince people to move away from a few detrimental chemicals

[@sycration]

that book also got the environmental movement started

[@xploration1437]

DDT was great!

[@DynamicSeq]

We traded some birds with about 1 million human deaths / year from malaria....

[@drunkasshole2000]

I'm pretty sure that book was proven to be bullshit eventually. But the damage was already done. Millions died but white liberals got to feel good till the next thing

[@batt3ryac1d]

@@DynamicSeq pretty sure the total environmental collapse from birds being out of the food chain would kill a LOT more people than malaria. You could ask China and Mao about that.

[@Aranimda]

Human: Here I have all kinds of banned insecticides. Insects: Interesting, let us look.

[@vincedibona4687]

“They’ll just fucking die later.”

[@reynairn71]

Fun Fact: Malathion is not just still used on crops, but also people! It's one of the two neurotoxic insecticides used in modern treatment of head lice (at least, it is in Aus). In case you're interested, the other one is Pyrethrin.

[@alexanderstone9463]

In America we also use Lindane! But just on people to get rid of lice, not on crops.

[@generalSarbina]

As a toxicologist, I absolutely loved this video. Metal salts are so fun, but organophosphates are just so *chefs kiss*.

[@vevenaneathna]

people say heroin eyes are super tiny, they havent seen organophosphate eyes.... remember, bayer invented sarin gas for u know who in 1930s

[@Aaron-zu3xn]

as a pharmacist these chemicals are terrifying and the reason i grow plants that produce atropine and have a well established method for producing atropine sulfate just in case i ever need it

[@mathiasmajslott9363]

As a biologist i just learned how organophosphates and carbamates work. They terrify and intrigue me at the same time. You probably know this way more in depth, but here is how i learned it: The compound gets into the insect somehow(?) and then it limits the an enzyme (acetylcholinesterase) that breaks down a compound in the nerve network, which disassemble a nerve firing substrate (acetylcholine), resulting in total cramp and then death.

[@alexdrockhound9497]

i can say from experience that copper sulfate hydrate tastes TERRIBLE. It forms naturally as a mineral in some ore bodies.

[@vevenaneathna]

@@mathiasmajslott9363 or the real ending from into the wild

[@Whitewingdevil]

I can feel how intensely bright it is from here mate, hope this fire season is kind to us all.

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

Has been pretty wet this year, so should be okay… but always makes me think people will get complacent! So always a threat I guess

[@BubbaButt7]

What in tarnation?! You got a whole season of fire?

[@ElBach1y]

I'm all the way from Argentina and we're also feeling the summer sun. +1 for getting drunk on the warm Christmas night

[@llab3903]

@@BubbaButt7 California does too

[@BruceNJeffAreMyFlies]

@@BubbaButt7 Welcome to Australia. Where the dog in the burning house, claiming 'this is fine', isn't a meme, it's just that part of year the rest of the world calls 'summer' ;)

[@Alexander_Sannikov]

for some reason i really like it when Tom is strolling around civilian infrastructure objects such as yards and tractors in his white lab coat with safety glasses and a microphone and is talking chemistry

[@ff7omega]

As soon as I saw him pull out something he felt the need to add additional containment to I knew it was some real bad stuff.

[@kolsen6330]

When clearing out the folks house, I found a gallon of 2.4.5T. If I remember correctly, that stuff is 1/3 of agent orange. The local fire dept on the yearly "bring in your toxic waste for us to get rid of day" told me that if I took it away and never brought it back, they would forget I had it. Ended up burning it in a diesel engine to get rid of it.

[@nibblrrr7124]

00:00 Intro: _A man of special interests_ 00:46 Overview 01:18 **ORGANOCHLORIDES:** DDT 05:18 Dieldrin 06:23 Pentachlorophenol 07:00 Chlordane 07:45 **METAL SALTS** 08:01 Copper sulfate 08:50 Lead arsenate 10:59 **ORGANOPHOSPHATES** 11:27 Malathion 11:46 _biOLoGy side point:_ Tom = Ant?? 12:42 Parathion 13:02 Demeton-S-methyl 13:48 **CARBAMATES:** Carbaryl 14:09 _we have different chemicals now_ 14:30 **MODERN PESTICIDES** 14:37 Carbaryl (2016) 14:46 Pyrethoids: Permethrin, Deltamethrin 15:26 Neonicotinoids: Imidacloprid 15:47 _saving the elm tree w/ neonicotinoids_ 17:13 **CONCLUSION**

[@ranga274]

Thank you so much omg

[@mr.bulldops7692]

"Flies are gonna fucking die later." I love it when you speak Australian.

[@toddburgess5056]

DDT weakened the eggs of certain species of birds in the United States such as the Bald eagle. The shell would crack just from the parents trying to keep the nest warm. When DDT was outlawed, the American Bald eagles population bounced back and was able to be removed from the endangered species list which is quite remarkable.

[@CHRISTIEMALRYLIBRARY]

yeah when i was a kid the show blue peter used to send a camera crew out every time they found peregrine falcons nesting there were so few left, now theyre like rats on top of every tower block one dropped a pigeon liver on me from about 200 ft i dont think it was intentional but still

[@iseeyou9162]

0:14 THOSE ARE BEAUTIFUL ROSES

[@alexrogers777]

A literal container of DDT being labeled as "garden dust" is insane lmao

[@Kirillissimus]

Just spraying it around your garden however you want will never hurt anything, when in doubt spray it twice. Haven't you seen the TV show where the guys who make and sell the thing get completely covered with the magic white dust and even get it blown straight into their faces while laughing and smiling? The thing is completely safe!

[@Pyxis10]

@@Kirillissimus They even sprayed it around a baby crib and it was fine.

[@NotProFishing]

Bro they sprayed that shit up and down our road back in the day I have a picture of my great uncle as a kid playing in the mist. Sure he got non Hodgkin's lymphoma but no one got malaria

[@alexrogers777]

@@Kirillissimus this is the heaviest sarcasm I've ever read

[@derpychicken2131]

@@Pyxis10 That's right folks! Skip the step where it contaminates your children through mother's breast milk, and pump that good stuff right into the crib!

[@sketchyAnalogies]

Can you try to get a tour of the poison neutralization processes? It would be fascinating to learn about those careers and what the centers do!

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

That would be cool! I wonder if I could line something like that up

[@OZf1re]

@@ExtractionsAndIreI think the AFP probably has enough of a file on you by now to know that your not going to take anything exotic or experimental home with you 😅

[@krisgibbon2199]

I work in household hazardous waste disposal, so I can tell you a few things. For stuff like this, we sort it out from the less harmful pesticides. From there, we bulk it into a large tote under a fume hood and ship it off to an incinerator to be destroyed. Since there is pretty much no way to render these chemicals non-toxic incineration is the only viable solution.

[@Refertech101]

@@krisgibbon2199 yup they get mixed into a solvent base and sprayed into an ultra high temp flame incinerator to burn them to basic raw materials then particle matter is scrubbed

[@Wayoutthere]

@@Refertech101 ANd where does that 'particle matter' go? Surely it's not all nice and 'Carbony' ready to be dusted on your bloody strawberries?

[@97SEMTEX]

It would be interesting seeing a video on how you go about safely dispossing of these chemicals through the correct means and the chemistry behind the disposal.

[@internetbodhi1009]

You chuck 'em in a 55 gal drum and bury it in a cave or ocean... Or incinerate it, ship it to a third world country, or declare it safe to dispose of in landfills. Whatever's cheapest is the safest way, according to governments

[@antonhelsgaun]

Drink them

[@janeblogs324]

The super high temp incinerators supposedly destroy all NOx

[@davandfir1]

Put them back in the box in the shed, they're someone else's problem.

[@Seedy95739]

@@janeblogs324 But then they go in the Atmophere right?

[@benn-9827]

Interesting fact about Most of the pesticides is that, As my self being a CBRN Specialist and working with different tools and learning about these chemicals, These actually set off our tools for G Nerve agents. Meaning if you Got enough of these pesticides together, You could successfully create a very deadly liquid.

[@DagorDraug]

yess the copper sulfate one is still used in Italy. My grandpa used it a lot to protect the vineyard, now I prefer other alternatives. We call it "verderame", which roughly translates to "copper green"

[@robertsmith4681]

I love the irony of being all kinds of bothered with insects, while literally handling various insecticides ...

[@moos5221]

Notice how midway through the video the insects were all gone?

[@devilduckietu]

I know this isn't your usual stuff, but this was fascinating. More chemical history, please!

[@jamesgilbert124]

Fun Fact: Copper Sulfate is still allowed for use as an insecticide on certified organic crops in the US. It has a specific carve out in the USDA's National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances. But also I may need an Ex&F lab coat. You got a merch store going?

[@chucklebutt4470]

It's funny how organic and Non GMO crops need a fuckload of pesticides. And by funny I mean gross.

[@Suiseisexy]

It's obfuscated knowledge now because they don't want people emulating the behavior, but certain pesticides were banned in California and subsequently the rest of the US when a group of people making that demand bred and threatened to release invasive insects that threatened important crops. The US actually owes some of it's pesticide policy to an entirely successful act of terrorism.

[@chucklebutt4470]

@@Suiseisexy Whoa! That was so interesting to look into! The group who released the insects (Mediterranean fruit flies) called themselves The Breeders. There's a wiki page for Entomological Warfare that has a section about them! It mentions that an effective way for a bad actor to cause a biological terrorism attack would be through attaching the agent to insects and using their spread.

[@Suiseisexy]

@@chucklebutt4470 Lmao, great page, I love the bit about us trying to get caterpillars to eat up all the cocaine plants in South America to win the war on drugs, classic US government.

[@chriswhitmore3835]

Likewise in the EU. It more than meets the health criteria to be banned, but organic farming lobbyists keep it from being axed.

[@matthewk9563]

A good friend of mine helped clean out an old garage a few years back that was unknowingly contaminated with old pesticide. He has been horribly ill and wasting away for the past 4 years. Not expected to live mush longer as his seizures are getting more frequent. Just from helping out to clean an old garage

[@ironfront9573]

I found a bunch of 1970s-80s pesticides dumped in an alley. They were scattered amongst lots of other rubbish but I took the time to pick them all out and take them home as I knew in best case scenario the bottles would either get smashed from lying around, from some eventual clearup or in the back of s rubbish compactor. I remember there was DDT, Malathion and others.

[@m0rthaus]

Well done dude, honestly. Wish more people were as thoughtful

[@quiggsy8571]

Yeah, props to you

[@ElSuperNova23]

Hey, at least you didn't find a old dry/rusted bottle of picric acid! Had the pleasure of finding one during stocktake and having to call the bomb squad.

[@kaboom4679]

I was " gifted " several large containers of TNP , courtesy of a high school chem teacher , who received orders to get rid of certain " frisky " compounds in the labs . His solution was to have a couple volunteers carry several large cardboard boxes of these politically incorrect substances out to the dumpster . They never made it into the dumpster , but , did make it to my lab . Fortunately the picric acid was quite wet and the scariest things were old bottles of assorted ethers and an rather suspect looking bottle of nitric acid .

[@ElSuperNova23]

​@@kaboom4679 Always nice to see 'the funtime powder' or some nice crystals when pulling out ancient ether bottles.

[@JamesChurchill]

My school found one of those back in the early nineties, was a big deal with the bomb squad called out and everything. Who then took it to the local tip and waited until a bird flew past before detonating it. Wish I'd gotten a copy of that video!

[@corvid8290]

This video was so fascinating. Hearing the history of this stuff along with the chemistry was so cool. The way you explained it as well was very well done.

[@Aengus42]

It's amazing what you can find in a great aunt's house. And the "I'll remove these for safe disposal!" gets you brownie points AS WELL as the organic chemistry finds. It's a win all 'round! 😆

[@tmdcbass]

*Pulls out tube of DDT, an infamous insectide* FLY IMMEDIATELY LANDS ON TUBE OF DDT

[@yannickramouillet3742]

Fun fact, Malathion was widely used in anti-lice shampoos here in France until like 3 years ago. I remember putting it on my head quite often as a kid for lices after public pool, school lice infestation. I was aware of its toxicity quite recently though but you don't have much effective anti-lice products now apart from bad anti-foaming agents like dimethicone which (without much efficacy) apparently clog the respiration pore of the louse

[@planefan082]

Tea-tree extract.

[@sungazer454]

Mayonnaise.

[@pyromen321]

Send them to ThatChemist for a taste tier list.

[@benpye6854]

Lead tastes sweet right? That sounds like a ‘winner’

[@echo_9835]

This reminds me of my uncle explaining all the bottles of booze in his bar, but somehow less safe.

[@gingermcgingin4106]

Technically ethanol is a poison, too.

[@Flesh_Wizard]

@@gingermcgingin4106 but it's a fun poison:)

[@Adam-wl8wn]

Mate, you exploring dangerous old chemicals is a great format, would love to see other stuff like this.

[@BoredBob]

When I cleaned out my grandfather's house I came across 5 metal gallon cans of Technical Chlordane concentrate (mix 5 to 1) from when he treated his house for termites and a box of Asbestos cement for use in chimneys. In the medicine cabinet a bottle of Paregoric he had bought years prior from when he had gotten a bad burn on his leg. Fun stuff.

[@janeblogs324]

Cool story. Bro. Got anymore?

[@BoredBob]

@@janeblogs324 Technical Chlordane concentrate or Asbestos cement or Paregoric? Two of them will kill you and the other is a schedule 1 so I’m not saying on either account. Stories of more f’ed up stuff I’ve run into over the years? I’m 60, spent 22 years in the military, lived in 5 different countries, retired and living in a 160 year old farm house and out buildings on the property I grew up on. So yeah I’ve got plenty. I just don’t share them with trolling internet arse hats begging for attention to give their life meaning. So there’s that…

[@sigilvii]

Nice. I have been working in in agriculture research as an entomologist for many years now. Boxes like this (sometimes whole rooms) are very familiar to me, and I can imagine the "weird smell" you described. A bit like chalky candy cigarettes, esters, and some kind of bad chemical smell. Some of those are pretty hot pesticides. You touched on a couple important concepts like persistent chemicals, and the ratio of toxicity for insects and toxicity for mammals. Insects were also exhibiting resistance to DDT by the time it was banned-farmers needed to use more and more of it. I did some toxicology and analytical chemistry with more modern pesticides. Handling "research grade" active ingredients is freaking scary.

[@whoever6458]

Back when I worked on an ambulance, part of our training was how to recognize and do the initial treatment for people who had been poisoned with organophosphates. I was never on a call for that but it was something we had to know. This was all before I had taken a single chemistry or biology class and now I have my degree in biology. It's pretty cool stuff, but I also thought chemistry and even physics were pretty cool too.

[@vindik8or]

I'm guessing treatment is support breathing until the body metabolises the toxin? I can't think of what else could be done.

[@BigBoolinScienceMan]

In a pinch you can use Datura flower as antidote to cholinterase inhibition as it contains high amounts of atropine.

[@martynbillings4924]

It's interesting seeing you talk about copper sulphate. I had a job as a design engineer in Europe and the drive/move away from neonictanoids was causing people to home brew their own pesticides. Mostly from 10% acetic acid, copper sulphates, peppermint oil and white clay. No idea if they work or if they are any better for environment getting people to homebrew and eyeball chemical cocktails at home.

[@greendryerlint]

They also sell it to pour down sewer lines to kill tree roots to prevent clogging. I have a jar of it.

[@roleat]

@@greendryerlint sounds smart

[@TheXeno05]

Those giddy, yet uneasy, laughs after talking about the chemicals are great. He's so into it and loves talking about this stuff but...heheh it'll kill ya dead.

[@BigglyG]

Gotta love the irony of the flies landing on the insecticide bottles as you talk about how deadly they are.

[@ActionAdventureTwins]

bro i found a bunch of these in my basement. how the heck was i living with these in the basement for long. them things were offgassing the whole time. threw them out in the shed and i could still smell them out there. had to take them into the community chemical drive where you load up your chemicals in the truck and take them to someone who can deal with them. bro you think lead is bad for you. that mercury is really bad. we found what felt like a little 20 pound bottle of mercury about 500 ml liter in size once in a abandoned lab and opened it and the vapors came wafting out they were so concentrated and the bottle had been sitting there for so long

[@fortunateson6070]

My Dad has a canister on one of shelves that says "ACME Arsenate of Lead" and it is very colorful

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

Maybe at least put it in a secondary container so it doesn’t leak arsenic and lead all over the place!

[@fortunateson6070]

@@ExtractionsAndIre I will definitely do that until we get rid of what's inside, the last time I saw it a couple of years ago the container was in very good condition.

[@richardwebb5317]

Not to be used against a roadrunner infestation.

[@alexrogers777]

1.) I'd love another video just like this, if you do find a chemical disposal place see if you can check out what old chemicals they have maybe? 2.) is there any chemistry that could be done with these chems before tossing them?

[@spammerscammer]

"Oh yes sir here's all the old chemicals we have"

[@sholmes3654]

I know that one of the big topics i was taught on DDT was that they had a massive negative impact on eagles. When you spray DDT that stuff travels up the food chain all the way to eagles, and when eagles tried to lay eggs the eggshells would actually be too thin and break so there were less babies hatching. I think this was a time when eagles were also endangered in the US, but as of now with conservation efforts i think alot of them are least concern! :)

[@jimurrata6785]

All raptors really. Since they eat birds that eat bugs, bioaccumulation works its way up the food chain. Thin shells were a big problem for hawks and falcons too back in the 1970's. I'm pretty sure that ospreys and bald eagles had big problems with PCB's it the fish they ate back then too.

[@cheshirecynic3061]

@@jimurrata6785 I'm happy to report from Kansas that the ban on DDT has definitely helped the raptor population recover. Hawks are plentiful, and bald eagles are not uncommon. I spent 1998-2013 living a couple miles outside of town, and there was a bald eagle that liked to sit in the big tree that overlooked the pond across the road. The local hawks seemed to largely avoid the eagle, preferring to hunt mostly in my back pasture and around my smaller pond. We also had cranes show up on occasion - they're fun to watch as they wade around in the water, such graceful but awkward-looking birds.

[@DynamicSeq]

Yep... the ban of DDT only kills about a million people a year... Go eagles

[@cheshirecynic3061]

@@DynamicSeq Yeah, no. People die from *too much* DDT, not a lack of it. Get your junk science outta here and go take your meds.

[@janeblogs324]

Trump should've just put eagles on his hats, if that's the only way to get through to people

[@switch2472]

Bordeaux mixture is widely used today in Vineyards all over the world, for fungus control. It's not super effective and it can burn the grapevines but used correctly it's pretty safe and allows us to use lesser amounts of more toxic/exotic fungicides. (I grow grapes and use it myself!)

[@Just.A.T-Rex]

Boracare won’t work?

[@Sky-._]

This is one of my favorite videos you've posted, the historical ones are just great

[@alex-mzlzl]

Hi, I live in Bordeaux, we was using it for grapes, and yes it's anti-fongic (used against something we call "mildiou", a white surface mushroom)

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

Ayyy you live in the place that made the powder! Cool!!

[@shawnbaxter1001]

As a kid we loved when the city fogging machine (pickup with a fogger) came by....was a blast running thru the fog over and over! And running thru the fog wait what!

[@Refertech101]

@David Barr late 90ies I did school maintenance in Canada, the main task at the time was checking all the ballasts of the lights to see if PCB or not, if they where they'd get changed. Instructions should a tube every fall and break was to evacuate the school, yes, the whole Fing school, then after ventilating the room was to look for any droplets of mercury with a special vacuum to suck them up, then a normal cleaning. (Take a guess how often we wasted time with that lol!)

[@Welgeldiguniekalias]

When I was a little boy in the 1980s, if we went on a long drive, the windshield would get covered in bugs and my dad would have to clean it regularly. Nowadays, a bug hitting the windshield is a very rare occurrence. I only clean it once or twice a year, because the rain and the wipers can easily keep up. Terrifying, really, and quite amazing that we still have so many insect eating birds.

[@johnelwer3633]

Likely from improvements in aerodynamics of the vehicles too.

[@_c_y_p_3]

@@Jmoneysmoothboy driving in your videogames don't count.

[@_c_y_p_3]

​@@Jmoneysmoothboy you said there is no decline in insects and I will again say perhaps its a problem with your perspective not indicative of the broader reality outside your gaming console. If this triggers you then be triggered.

[@redtobertshateshandles]

@John Spencer lol. Sydney has expanded so far west now that we get barely any flies. Screw the bush, it's yucky out there.

[@VinylUnboxings]

@@johnelwer3633 maybe a tiny bit 😂

[@peterbriggs3408]

I clearly remember my grandfather in the 1970s mixing white lead and red lead into a paste and then using that to coat his runner bean seeds before planting. The thought of doing something like this today is beyond belief

[@tungsten2009]

Did you eat the runner beans?

[@peterbriggs3408]

@@tungsten2009 yes. That could explain a few things 😂

[@tungsten2009]

@@peterbriggs3408 What's the difference between white and red lead paste, besides resulting in a pink mixture.

[@peterbriggs3408]

@@tungsten2009 Don't know really. I think one is lead oxide and the other lead carbonate, but why he used both I don't know. This was about 45 years ago.

[@tungsten2009]

@@peterbriggs3408 Twice the poison?

[@williamletts9487]

We were cleaning out the old garage when we were remodeling a house from the 50s and we found a very large sealed bottle of ddt (and some of the other more dangerous options) in a storage cabinet in the back, and I think they just got relocated because we didn't know how to dispose of them at the time

[@FernandoThegreat]

I love your love of random chemicals

[@nnehila]

Can you ask the poison control to do a video with them on destruction of the chemicals??

[@robogecko4067]

@Karl with a K Jesus, you’d think they’d do it for free to stop stuff like that

[@Flesh_Wizard]

Hell yeah E&I poison centre collab

[@Refertech101]

@@robogecko4067 sadly they grape you hard, I don't complain just means I get Mercury free, at least when given to me it is stored carefully and securely! but so much hazardous and toxic chems get dumped int he environment due to the cost of disposal to home users and such.

[@dragonhealer7588]

@@Refertech101 Twice a year where I live, we can take everything horrible to the local fire Department for disposal no charge.

[@SpaceMulva]

@@dragonhealer7588 You don't need to ask permission to drop stuff off at the fire department or poison control, you just fucking do it, and leave. Don't have visible tags on your shit. Leave a note that says chemicals for safe disposal. Guess what they do, fucking dispose of them.

[@Hansengineering]

I _heard_ DDT was *so effective* it is singularly the reason bedbugs passed into legend in 1st world countries before their resurgence in the mid 2010s.

[@RicoElectrico]

My grandparents had a bed bug infestation which only subsided after a "nuclear option" of spraying literally every piece of floor, baseboard and upholstery with cypermethrin.

[@5roundsrapid263]

Today, the common treatment for them is to heat the whole house to at least 104F/40C for several hours!

[@wades623]

@@5roundsrapid263 if you live in the right place you could just leave the ac off in the summer

[@kaboom4679]

Bedbugs are pretty resistant to everything except high temperatures . DDT is still approved for treating them ( indoors ) , but , is fairly pointless as most of them are completely immune to it . As matter of fact , resistance to DDT was quickly noticed not long after DDT was first introduced . The newest pyrethrins work , but , they rapidly gain resistance to those as well . If you ever are unfortunate enough to acquire these little bastards as houseguests , burning the house down and building a new one may be the most economical and expedient route to eliminating them IME . At least they are not a significant disease vector , excluding mental illness , from being driven completely insane .

[@JamesChurchill]

@@wades623 explains why we've never had a bedbug problem here in Australia.

[@samelecta10122]

This video is fascinating. I learned of DDT through one of my chemical engineering classes because a big chemical plant that produced it in California was severely contaminating the coastline around it, and it specifically made eagle eggshells very thin and they were almost wiped out because of it. We had some homework problems on calculating the steady-state flux of DDT particles thru capping sediment, and the concentration of DDT as a function of time and distance deep in the sediment. Good times

My grandfather uses copper sulfate on walnut and apple trees against fungi. It leaves a faint green color on the tree. Like the one you found it has that same turquoise color. I don't know how effective it was but I remember times where it didn't work well.

[@fluffypink90]

One of my primary school teachers (in Australia) used to tell us about how part of her father's job was to stand out in fields to serve as a marker for aircraft spraying DDT Great video, would enjoy watching more of this style of video if the opportunity presents itself

[@AsmodeusMictian]

"to serve as a marker for aircraft spraying DDT" This combined with the footage of people getting blasted with DDT while eating, swimming, etc. just shorts my brain out. History has so many examples of things that at the time seemed okay, but looking back with a bit more knowledge and it seems horrifically stupid. Like mercury to color your wallpaper. Like using pewter for silverware.

[@yunoraphael1413]

This job really deserves a S tier in a fear rank

[@mamupelu565]

@@AsmodeusMictian thats why I didnt take the vaccine

[@Pablo668]

There used to be a powder for case hardening steels. It was called Hardite. It contains some nasty stuff, including Cyanide of some type. they still used it when I was in high school, though it has been banned from schools now afaik. I have never seen it outside of a school though. In an unlikely twist of fate I became a Design and Technology teacher and back in the early 00's I found a full tin of that stuff in a storeroom at the school I was working at. I was a tad surprised tbh.

[@Jefferson-ly5qe]

In those days there was still a load of that kind of stuff tucked away in schools. Mercury, phosphorus, alkali metals etc. Less so now

[@andrew051968]

When I did my apprenticeship in the 1980’s we used cyanide based case hardening chemicals too. Today in industry they get the carbon into the steel using heat and high pressure high carbon gasses.

[@Patchnote2.0]

This video feels like a less chaotic and more informative version of StyroPyro's series with that old chemistry book. Great video, I loved it!

[@toter-drache]

I was going through the contents on a shelf in my parents basement, i found a box of DDT powder, 4 bottles of Malathion and various other "insecticides", that were, at one time, readily available at Hardware Stores. Funny thing was the DDT Box was labeled "ACME Chemical Division", Reminded me of the Coyote/Roadrunner cartoon.

[@nickdivona8769]

Love hearing about the Lead/Arsenic stuff, that is what has totally destroyed the area I live (shoutouts to Asarco for making everything toxic!).

[@Just.A.T-Rex]

Deltamethrin is still in use, same as bifenthrin and imidacloprid. The latter 2 work great for termites as well. We use thousands of gallons (diluted solution mixed per the label) a year to treat pre construction foundation elements for homes as well as active termite infestations or just as a preventative.

[@helplmchoking]

Yeah lots of "-ethrin" chemicals are very widely used. Including the tetramethrin acting as the main ingredient in the fly spray right next to me lol

[@realblakrawb]

@@helplmchoking permethrin and amethrin in thermal cells and mosquito coils too

[@profpuffofficial2]

We use a lot of pyrethroids

[@firstmkb]

Are they as effective as Chlordane? That was awesome for termites (not so much for kids), and lasted 20 years in the ground.

[@Just.A.T-Rex]

⁠@@firstmkblol no. But at the benefit off no voc and much less toxicity and stays where you put it if applied properly compared to chlordane

[@YakiAttaki]

I'm eight minutes into this video and I've just realised: I think this is the most "formal" I've seen you. Clean labcoat, safety glasses, gloves. Lookin good

[@cerebralm]

You haven't gotten to the lead arsenate yet, that's when it makes sense. :P

[@zabortnick]

Just a few years ago I was helping clean a garage and found a can of DDT insecticide, it was a liquid and the can was made to screw onto the muffler of yer lawnmower so you could fog the bugs with it while I cut the grass. 🤢

[@Mumpitzable]

yesterday ive found the bottle of e605 in the old storage behind my house which my mother used against pests on roses when i was young. the whole bottle is oozing in orange supersmelly parathion containing goo... just took another look... but couldnt find the metasystox... probably laying under some tight area and also oozing around

[@i8764theKevassitant]

My grandpa grew up on a farm in the late 30s thru the 40s until leaving for the army in the 50s and then college where he got his PhD and became a chem professor. He passed this last December and I spent a lot of undeserved time with him and it's why this video was recommended to me. I love the sciences and agriculture and so did he so this video hit a real special spot for me. Wish it'd been made prior to his passing so we could talk about these compounds. At 86 he could still rattle off some crazy stuff that I wish I comprehended more of.

[@simonscott1121]

30 years ago, we had a massive ant nest appear above our septic tank. My dad found an old can of Dieldrin in the shed, told me all about it, and then spread a little on the nest. That shit is like a nuclear bomb for insects. Didnt see another ant around there ever again.

[@simonscott1121]

My dad pronounced it "deel-drin"

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

Lol yeah I can imagine! Terrifying really

[@KooshiesElectronics]

Glad to see some more content! Hope all is well.

[@hammerth1421]

I recently handed in a can of wood paint with Lindane in it to the public hazardous waste collection. It's kinda scary what nasty chemicals still sit in the sheds and shelves of usually elderly people.

[@deathlis]

And of course many of those sheds ultimately succumb to a fire, a hurricane/windstorm, a tornado or something similar.

[@cvspvr]

elderly people themselves often emit dangerous levels of radiation

[@sierra5720]

Where I live it's not uncommon to come across cy mag or strychnine.

[@jackking5567]

Story time: Decades ago I'd inherited an old allotment. Like this video, I had a lot of junk to clear out. Within the shed junk were random bottles of 'stuff'. Within it all, I found a small glass bottle of what appeared to be a treatment for roses - the label was mostly rotted off. When I moved that bottle (I had gloves on) the metal lid leaked and I hadn't noticed it. Some of the liquid got onto my glove. It was a hot day and casually I had wiped my forehead. That tiny quantity of liquid that had gotten onto my glove made it onto my forehead. I realised immediately that it happened as I felt this strange sensation of a liquid spreading over my face - like a cool liquid spreading over my face like a sheet. It was awful. No nasty tingling - just the feeling of a cold liquid sheet spreading like a mask. It moved fast and was headed to my mouth so I quickly ran to a garden tap and shoved my head under the flow of a fully open tap. I don't think any harm was done but wow - to feel the method by which garden chemicals work was uncanny.

[@mamupelu565]

Do you know what it was?

[@jackking5567]

@@mamupelu565 Sorry for the late response. No - the label was gone off it. The remains of the label showed a rose flower and so that's what I'd guessed it was for. The bottle was small and brown. I'm in the UK.

[@sunburntsatan6475]

I worked in a toxicology lab, and let me tell you--there are SO many fascinating toxins, as well as just regular elemental toxicities, that I had the opportunity to work with. I worked most commonly with GC-MS organophosphates, carbamates (which don't behave well), and organochlorines. For research purposes, we also worked with microcystins (algal toxins), conotoxins (super toxic!!), As well as botulinum neurotoxin. Fortunately, the BoNT were of the veterinary variety so were safe (with proper handling) for me, but still the toxicity was measured in 10^7 (10 million) mice lethal doses per vial, which was always intensely interesting. I still have sealed glass ampoules that I use to display CuSO4 and Potassium chromate, which have striking appearance!

[@beguiling_]

I love reading about things I don't understand. What's a Microcystin? I have no clue. But it's fun to read!

[@sunburntsatan6475]

@@beguiling_ Microcystins are mostly toxins produced by [Microcystis] algae, and they're usually ~5 amino acids fused into a ring structure. One fun fact I learned working with veterinary samples of microcystin-contaminated water: Dogs actually **prefer** microcystin water over clean water, and it can damage their liver pretty severely. Very weird, and if you put your hand in water w/ microcystins in it it'll make your skin itchy and red.

[@luciangreiff2543]

Btw if you are still needing uv ray for your cubaine projekt, there are uv curing stations for 3d printer. I dont exactly now if the curing station also uses uv type c ray but it seems like they use.

[@mushious]

Wrong wavelength for what he needs. UV resin cures at 405nm, he needs low-300s.

[@luciangreiff2543]

@@mushious thanks man, i didnt knew the wavelenght an d i dont wantes to look it up.

[@ebnertra0004]

I recall finding a glass bottle of malathion along with a container of methoxychlor in the garage as a kid. They looked like 70s or early 80s-era containers. Definitely washed my hands thoroughly after that

[@gandalf8216]

I'm always scared of cleaning out garages, because you often have to call authorities and it's a big hassle when they call in bomb experts and chemists that demands the whole block roped off.

[@PaulFisher]

As a guy who used to work in a (US) hardware store, Malathion is the only chemical of the old ones I recognize that we sold then (15ish years ago) and is still available now. Also we hardly have any elms stateside due to Dutch Elm Disease and I am jealous of yours.

[@Mightylcanis]

Are they really that rare here? My childhood home had nothing but elms and one lone pine tree.

[@jayzee5980]

Malathion is also used as a prescription treatment for lice....I have a bottle of the stuff floating somewhere around the house lol

[@PaulFisher]

@@jayzee5980 wow! I am pleasantly surprised that it is safe enough to use directly on people.

[@jayzee5980]

@@PaulFisher I'm not sure what concentration it is at but I do know it burned like hell when I applied it and the fumes as it sat on my head made my eyes sting and water (though that may be due to the solvent it is dissolved in, it did smell a bit alcohol-ly)..... That being said I wouldn't use it regularly, I only used it because the nits I was dealing with had a particular resistance to the regular pyrethrin based pediculicides like the Nix stuff you can buy in stores A single application was enough to eradicate the bugs I had crawling on my scalp though, so a bit of toxicity was acceptable if it meant getting rid of the fuckers (as someone with long hair, I HATE lice lol)

[@amberblyledge7859]

My fiancé got shot in the face with a raid fogger. He was out of that area in seconds and the fogger semi contained, but he still had nervous system issues for about a week or so. And that was after thorough decontamination and very minor exposure.

[@veramae4098]

My county has been having a once a year hazardous disposal day, and every year the line of cars is longer and there's more stuff! People are really embracing this. Problem is, the people planning it never thought it would get so big and are tight on cash. It was free, but I think this last year they started charging like $2 a car. My farmer neighbor told me that when the economy went bad in 2008, they cut back on their pesticide and herbicide. Ended up cutting it in half, and it still worked fine. They'd been buying and using what the salesperson said they needed. Surprise, surprise.

[@VoidHalo]

Copper sulfate is actually an ingredient in a lot of cat and dog foods. Apparently it's the go-to source of copper, which given the tiny amount of copper a cat or dog would require nutritionally, I would imagine the amount is incredibly small. But it's still alarming to see copper sulfate on the ingredients label for my cat's food.

[@willam1992]

its used in human food too

[@teebob21]

Copper is a required micronutrient for plant and animal life. Copper sulphate pentahydrate is safe for all animal species up to the maximum total copper content authorised in feed. No concerns for consumer safety are expected from the use of the feed additive. (Source: European Food Safety Authority) Do you fear dihydrogen monoxide, too?

[@Just.A.T-Rex]

Chlordane was liquid gold for its purpose as a termiticide. Now that it’s a banned pesticide that my exterminating company still possesses multiple glass jugs of in protected storage. So many farmers in my state still use it from time to time from old stock as well. Sketchy stuff

[@ExtractionsAndIre]

Yeah I imagine some of these old chemicals work terrifyingly well. But for the best they’re so restricted surely

[@mozismobile]

farmers with their dodgy old chemicals! My stepfather had a classic DDT blower with DDT in it that he used occasionally used on the dog when it had resistant fleas. Aint no such thing as a flea that's DDT resistant... or a farmer. Weirdly he was quite paranoid about agricultural chemicals, and used to say "anything you put 50ml of into a 10,000 litre tank then spray... that's got to be evil" (fungicides particularly get diluted disturbingly much). But DDT dust on the dog... no worries. The real problem is old farm sheds. Everyone knows that the old chemical factory is a "site of concern", but that shed where they used to store drums of DDT and other fun things? Farmers can pay to register the site, then pay to have it cleaned up. Or they can... not do that.

[@markshort9098]

Arsinate of lead would also be good for termites, they used to just break a hole in the termite track and put a tiny bit in then tape over the hole.. termites eat it to clear the track and die, then the other termites eat the dead termites and die and that continues until the whole nest is dead.. I wish I had some of it here on my farm, the fecking termites are attacking my tractor shed again and I've already had to replace part of it

[@tek4]

Just when I needed it most after a hell of a day, you come up and post. Fantastic. Amazing. Wonderful.

[@s.c.2541]

11:47 I've got a degree in biochemistry and a degree in cell biology and I still think it's fascinating that humans and ants can be poisoned in similar ways, that's a main crux for me wanting to study veterinary toxicology in vet school lol

[@213BRANDONP]

seems crazy to me that a few grapes can kill a dog ..

[@odoman69]

As someone who formulates modern insecticides and herbicides this video is such a time capsule, thanks for sharing

[@taylorhay]

Thanks for the work you do!

[@VoIcanoman]

I know malathion has been used recently in Canada as an insecticide, mainly in agriculture (where its use continues to this day), but also in urban and suburban environments to kill mosquitoes. It was last used in my own city of Winnipeg back in 2016 or maybe 2017. As you said, the pyrethroid class has become the replacement of choice, particularly deltamethrin.

[@jr637-1]

You brought up an excellent point that most plants don’t take up lead from contaminated soil. The most common exposure pathway from lead is actually inhalation from soil particles whipped up by digging and the wind.

[@brolohalflemming7042]

Ah, the past was the best. My grandfather had a farm. And on that farm, he had an old hut. And in that hut, he had a rusty tin. And on that rusty tin was a lable. And on that lable was 'CyMag'. And my father got a bit worried, and told me to put it down and back away slowly. And some time later, I learned in school chemistry that CN is an effective pesticide, especially against small children. I thought it was a trade name for magnesium cyanide, but after a quick look at wiki, not so sure. I vaguely remember the instructions were to put the powder down mole holes, or mix it with water in a sprayer, presumably after making a suitable sacrifice to the PPE deities. Now I'm older and wiser, I know to leave most unfamiliar chemicals well alone.

[@user-vs3np5xe2z]

Cymag seems to be 40% (w/w) sodium cyanide online :)

[@willam1992]

@@user-vs3np5xe2z best keep the kids/and some adults well way

[@adamlister6403]

@@user-vs3np5xe2z That's... grim

[@richardwebb5317]

Lying around our place too. My father was a bit anti chem however and took a long time to graduate from copper sulfate as a footrot treatment for instance. Main reason was expense of course. However one of his stock stories was kill off a wasps nest with the cymag, and then later chuck it in the river having kept a few grubs back as bait. The fish having got a taste for wasp grubs were then an easy catch. Less scrupulous types kick out the middleman and reach straight for the cyanide. That tin terrified me. As they say it does exactly what it says on the tin.

[@a2e5]

@@richardwebb5317 out of curiosity, has your father used sulfur powder as a foot fungicide too? (and not sure if you need to hear this, but sub-lethal amounts of cyanides are actually broken down quite quickly.)

[@jamesnicholson3658]

I used to work on a farm where we used old creosote from the late 90s to paint fence posts, it got banned in 2003 for being hazardous to human health and the environment, loved your video btw

[@paulaus]

They used to treat the wooden power pole out the front of my parents house with Creosote every couple of years.

[@stevepople9366]

2:02 Look at these terrible insecticides, "Oh man the amount of flies around" the casual irony is priceless

[@bigmango202]

My grandad worked as a chemist for a company making scents and good smells but your kinda chemistry definitely makes me want to be one