Since 2012, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) of Health Canada has banned neem oil for its use as a pesticide, despite many benefits it brings in the agricultural field. Nonetheless, neem oil has been been the subject of intensive synthetic research for its impressive biological activity.
Neem oil is commonly known as a pesticide. (source)
What is neem oil?
Neem oil, or margosa oil, is an extracted vegetable oil from the neem tree’s seeds. The seeds are the richest source containing the naturally occurring pesticide called Azadirachtin.
Structure of Azadirachtin (source)
Benefits of neem oil
Azadirachtin is found to be an effective systemic pesticide and to have growth-disrupting effects against more than 200 insect species.
In an urban settings, neem oil is a great solution to a pest infestation. A bottle of neem oil will come in handy when your garden is infested by either mealybugs, thrips, aphids, fungus gnats, spidermites and more. Neem oil effectively eliminates every stage of the pest’s lifecycle, including eggs, larvae, pupas, and adults.
Mealybugs infestation (source)
Ladybugs, earthworms, and other beneficial insects are generally not affected by neem oil.
One other known benefit of neem oil is boosting the process of wound-healing and skin regeneration. Neem oil is also found to help calm eczema and psoriasis. These health benefits are due to neem oil’s components of fatty acids, limonoid, and vitamin E.
Why banned neem oil?
Despite the proven advantages neem oil has, Health Canada said neem oil has not been certified and registered as a pest control product. The government hasn’t had sufficient evaluation to determine whether neem oil is safe to be used as a pesticide, nor the environmental risk it brings.
There are several case reports of neem oil poisoning in children and elderly caused by neem oil ingestion. These cases report symptoms of nausea, vomiting, seizures, kidney failure, restriction in blood supply to the brain. The long term effect of neem oil is also not clear.
Wow what an interesting blog post. I wonder how most people feel about neem oil. I personally feel like if it has been reported as causing problems in children it is best if it is not used in Canada. However if more research needs to be made the public should be open to the results of those experiments.
Where did it say that? It says some people have been poisoned by it most likely that means they accidentally drank it. Which could happen with anything toxic in any way.
C’est ce que je pense aussi
I guess the same kids eating Tide Pods are drinking Neem Oil! Totally ridiculous!
I did not know anything about neem oil before reading this blog post! I wonder if there are adequate alternatives for neem oil. I can tell that the intended audience is general because of the tone and easy-to-understand chemistry topic. It is also written in journalistic style due to the short paragraph structure.
No need for alternatives neem oil is a fantastic natural pest controller
Arsenic is natural, too. I wouldn’t want to use that in my garden to kill harmful insects.
Arsenic among other elements like Mercury are in many of the foods we eat. Are you going to stop eating fish, rice and all the other foods these elements are found in? I didn’t think so.
Neem seed oil is not meant to be ingested. If there only reported issues are due to ingestion, why ban it entirely? Is it because it is truly effective, and is subsequently reducing the profits of pesticide companies? If children and elderly were to ingest any pesticides or herbicides they would experience similar or even more tragic side effects. Should the government ban all pesticides and herbicides incase they are consumed? We would have little to no access to fresh fruit and vegetables. Even organic produce is allowed to be sprayed up to a certain stage in life cycle.
Great point about all other pesticides J Lee, and who on Earth would drink neem oil?
Neem oil is an amazing product for indoor tropical plants when dealing with pests. It is one of the only organic, systemic “pesticides” available in Canada (for some pests like thrips, fungus knats, spider mites, ect. It is invaluable if you have a large collection to rescue/prevent further issues) This is kinda misleading for people who don’t know anything about it, saying it can cause harm.
When the harm is caused by extreme improper use. Neem oil is safe to use around pets and children (don’t allow them to ingest it, but a small encounter here or there should hurt them) as it is also used in health and beauty products. **I’m not an expert, but I’ve done my research as everyone should before making a decision on a product**
“Neem has had a long history of use primarily against household and storage pests and to some extent against crop pests in the Indian sub-continent. As early as 1930, neem cake was applied to rice and sugarcane fields against stem borers and white ants,” (Saxena & Kaushik, 2004). Indian scientists started researching neem trees in the 1920s, and by 1991 hundreds of researchers in at least a dozen countries were studying various aspects of neem and its products (National Research Council (US) Panel on Neem, 1992). “Additionally, neem leaves have been employed for centuries against the stored grain pests due to its repellent properties (Koul et al., 1990),” (n.d.). In conclusion, neem has been used as a method of pest control on farms longer than synthetic pesticides/herbicides, and extensive research has been performed on neem products. The only way I can fathom the ban on neem products by Canada Health is that they made some sort of deal with synthetic pesticide/herbicide companies. There is a copious amount of information from credible sources on the horrific effects that synthetic pesticides/herbicides have on people and the environment.
This is the most likely case… the 5 or 6 people callin the shots at the PMRA and dictating policy for 40 million canadians are easily manipulated, bought out or own shares in pesticide manufacturers… it’s the reason they are considered “industry experts” and hand selected for the PMRA..
Canadians in fact have ZERO say in any policies…… it’s time we use our sense… and ignore the fing gov.
If NEEM is approved in many 1st world countries based on thousands of studies spanning decades, we need not re-invent the wheel to get it registered/approved.. but that is how Canadian gov operates.
Absolutely agree! In Canada we can apply Neem based skin cream and brush our teeth with it, but cannot spray it on plants??? Appears the powerful pesticide lobby is at work in this case. As a horticultural greenhouse technician I was exposed to some extremely dangerous chemicals- all approved for use in ag production in Canada. South asians have known and used Neem seed oil safely in farming and health application for millennia. We need to educate ourselves about the use of this safe and ancient seed oil, unblock the approvals process and speed up the formal studies under government review.
I use neem oil toothpaste and mouthwash and it’s a very healthy alternative to the commercial toothpastes and mouthwashes full of who knows what! … if you ingest most things they can cause some harm in large doses .. ingredients are on earth to help us if used properly. We are intelligent people if we use common sense.
I use Neem oil every three days or so for my Okra crops. Pure Cold Pressed Neem Oil is invaluable to the health of my Okra gardens. In fact it is not harmful to my pets, nor is it harmful to children when they’re around, or to bees. For that matter, Neem Oil is not harmful to any variety of would be pollinators, as Okra is a Hibiscus.
No one is walking around drinking or ingesting the stuff. It is way less dangerous than DE, or roach spray.
Personally I am sick and tired of everything citizens find and handle responsibly getting shut down and scrutinized so as to keep big business in control of our lives.