Temik

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Temik is a pesticide, the active ingredient of which is aldicarb. The effectiveness of Temik depends on its systemic acitivity. It is now owned and manufactured by Bayer CropScience, but was formerly owned and produced by Union Carbide. It is used as a pesticide to protect a range of edible and inedible agricultural and horticultural crops worldwide. One of its precursors, methyl isocyanate, was involved in a mass poisoning incident at a production facility in Bhopal, India, that resulted in thousands of deaths. This event precipitated the sale of Union Carbide's agricultural chemicals division to Rhone-Poulenc. Later, Aventis Cropscience was formed from Hoechst AG and Rhone-Poulenc Agrochemical which lasted until Bayer acquired it in 2002.

In the summer of 1985 nearly 1000 people in the western United States and Canada were poisoned by residue of Temik in watermelons. Their symptoms included nausea, vomiting, blurred vision and muscle weakness. Although no one died, some of the victims were seriously ill and two women later gave birth to stillborn babies. Later epidemiologic surveys of women who were pregnant at the time of the poisoning event failed to establish a causal relationship.

Temik remains an extremely effective material where resistance to organophosphate insecticides is found and is extremely important in potato production where it is used for the control of soil borne nematodes and some foliar pests. It is manufactured and used as a granular material because of its high level of dermal toxicity. Its weakness is its high level of solubility which restricts its use in certain areas where the water table is close to the surface.

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