2023-05-04 14:52:00
With the beautiful days, gardening is back. What could be nicer than planter fruits, vegetables and other cucurbits. But weeds invaded your garden during the winter, and you must weed. Out of the question to use Roundup and other toxic herbicides, moreover most of them have been banned from the market It front of dangers they present for health and the environment.
In front of the ban on certain weedkillersmore and more people make their weed control products alone. Homemade is fashionable, and everyone improvises apprentice chemist. Only, m mix some products is not without danger. The National Health Security Agency calls for precaution.
“Since 2019, many herbicides have been prohibited for sale to individuals due to their toxicity to health and the environment and therefore disappeared from store shelves,” she warned in a statement.
Beware of mixtures
The products most used by fans of do it yourself are thebleach, white vinegar or apple cider vinegar and hydrochloric acid. These products have the advantage of being inexpensive and very effective in weed control as well as the many parasites and pests present in your garden.
White vinegar mixed with water is a powerful natural weed killer. Just spray on the aerial parts weeds, let it work for a day or two and then pull out what is left.
On the other hand, if hydrochloric acid is very effective because extremely corrosive, it is not recommended to be used as a weed killer. It can cause severe chemical burns in case of contact with skin, eyes and respiratory tract, and is also very harmful to animals that roam your garden.
Finally, bleach can be used as a weed killer. It quickly dries out the leaves of the treated plants. It is very powerful, you just need to mix a cup of bleach for a liter of water.
These natural remedies for weeds can therefore be effective and safe if they are sufficiently diluted in water and used alone. Only, mix them can be dangerous. “The bleach/vinegar (or other acid) combination produces release of chlorine gas causing intoxication”, warns the National Health Security Agency.
The Agency, in charge of monitoring the practices of the French and alerting them in the event of danger, has noted that more and more people were making these mixtures at home, without knowing the risks. “While only one intoxication had been recorded by the Poison Control Centers from 2002 to 2013, this number has risen to 203 since the date of the ban on certain herbicides for individuals in 2019. These poisonings occur mainly in late spring and early summer, when weeding is most practiced .”
The first symptom of this intoxication is coughoften associated with difficulty breathing and to ENT tract irritation. “Nearly half of the exposed patients required medical treatment”, stipulates ANSES. “Of the five hospitalized patients, three were placed in intensive care.”
ANSES and the Poison Control Centers recommend do not mix these maintenance products n which are much less harmless than you might imagine, and to only use products marked “Garden use authorized” (EAJ).
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