What are the safety issues when using and handling of ENs?
The advantages of using these bio-pesticides are in operator and end-user safety, absence of withholding periods, minimal harm to natural enemies and lack of environmental pollution Varoius tests against mice, rabbits and monkeys (Gaugler, 1979; Wang et al, 1983, 1984; Wang & Liu, 1983; Boemare, et al, 1996) have shown that the ENs tested are harmless when fed, injected or inhaled. They are also harmless to earth worms (Capinera et al, 1982) and other non-insect organisms including plants and they are of course nonpolluting. They have now been used on a large scale in various countries for over ten years and large numbers of production workers have been exposed to thousands of billions of them without any adverse effects being recorded. The EPA in the USA, like many other countries including Australia, has exempted ENs from registration.
