USE OF D.D.T.

Press, Volume C, Issue 29620, 16 September 1961, Page 6

USE OF D.D.T.

Aspects Of New Regulations

The new regulations governing the use of DDT fertiliser and approved pelleted DDT on pastures are no more than a duplication of recommendations made in 1950 except that periods are now specified during which stock may not be grazed on treated pastures, Mr J. M. Kelsey, offiicer in charge of the Lincoln sub-station of the Entomology Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research said this

week. It had always been recommended that pastures to be treated should be close grazed and dry with stock off the area.

Mr Kelsey said that the reaction of fanners who had been using DDT correctly in the past to the' regulations was that they did not make any difference, but the view, of others, who had presumably not been complying with the recommended procedures, was that the new regulations were cumbersome.

Aerial topdressers had complained that the regulations made it impossible to apply DDT fertiliser from the air to comply with the requirements. It had been advocated by his division that aerial applications should be made when winds were no more than five miles an hour. This meant that the work had to be done in the early morning when the operators said there was dew on the ground which meant that the pasture was not dry. But Mr Kelsey said it was possible under the regulations to treat short wet pasture without a permit so long as all stock were kept off the treated areas for eight weeks. However, if it was wanted to apply DDT fertilisers or pellets or prills to long wet or long dry pastures, a permit had first to be obtained. Where pellets were being applied from the air Mr Kelsey said that wind speeds up to 10 miles an hour were permissible. An amendment to the initial regulations issued now allows the use of approved pelleted DDT. including prills, under the same conditions as DDT fertiliser.