Woodworm treatment.

[Yorkie]

Excellent link to 'Ask Jeff' Mark. It explodes several assumptions, myths and misunderstandings, often asserted not just by ill informed lay people but by so called 'professionals'. As to the toxicity, I liked the quip about it being 'so harmless you could drink a glass of it', but when challenged to do so, no woodworm treatment specialist has ever risen to the challenge. Interesting how they calculate toxicity too, using rats. I'd never heard of the 'LD50' ('lethal does 50%') toxicity test which is used on rats to calculate the safe level for human exposure. People weigh more than rats, so it is argued that a dose of permethrin that would kill a rat could not possible kill a person. And a smaller dose, which would make a rat ill, would not make a human ill. Very dodgy logic!

I'm sure that the likes of B&Q will continue to sell gallons of the stuff to anxious customers who douse furniture and structural timbers with it 'just in case'.