Subject: Re: BT yet again
From: [email-masked] (Tracy Aquilla)
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 14:55:17 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.sustainable.agriculture

In Article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked]
(Bowman, Bruce) wrote:
>Tracy Aquilla states, in response to Joseph Cooper:
>
>>>If you have tomato horn worms that have been infected, one or two in
>>>a blender will make a super spray of a quart or so used fresh. If
>>>this is a bit much for you go ahead and keep spending money for what
>>>you have in abundance. 
>>
>>Sorry, but this is not legal,from several standpoints. I suppose if it's for
>>the home garden no one will hassle you, but commercial growers should not be
>>making up their own BT formulations. In response to the original question,
>
>Care to elaborate on this? I thought BT was off-patent. What is illegal about 
>macerating a bunch of hornworms?
>
>Bruce
>
>From: BOWMAN BRUCE E                (MCVAX0::RC30906)
>
>To:   VMS MAIL ADDRESSEE            (IN::"[email-masked]")

Dear Bruce,
    First of all, there are literally hundreds of different BT strains, most
of which are patented, and most of those patents are still in effect. There
are a few 'old' strains, but these are not extremely effective, and are
usually not very abundant in the field. BT is inactivated by UV irradiation
(sunlight) in a relatively short time (days to weeks) and when one finds BT
in the field, it is almost always one of the newer patented strains which
are used world-wide as insecticides; that's why you can find it so easily.
If your bugs are 'infected' with one of these patented strains, and you
recover the strain from the environment in this manner, you have violated
someone's patent. Whether or not you care is a different question. In fact,
I don't feel that these patents should be allowed, but that is another
discussion entirely.
    The second issue is that of insecticide production. I can't quote the
chapter and verse of the law, but I believe that you need a license to
produce any insecticide, including BT. Of particular concern is the fact
that many BT strains produce a water soluble, heat-stable exotoxin which is
extremely toxic to higher organisms. When producing BT for insecticides, it
is required that the product be tested for this toxin (and others), as
absolutely none of it is allowed in the formulations approved for
insecticide use in the USA. Therefore, producing your own BT at home is
probably illegal from this standpoint as well. Furthermore, unless you test
to determine exactly what organism is infecting the sick bugs you find, you
don't know for sure that you actually have BT, and you may be spreading
something around which is not what you thought it was. This is highly
probable, since BT does not normally cause an infection in the target
insects. I hope this clears up the issue. If not, feel free to continue the
discussion, or to email me if you would like.
                                                Cheers
                                                        Tracy