Is Raid Safe for Spraying on Tomatoes?

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Ivan Seeking
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Spray your tomatoes with Raid?!

Check out this old commercial for Raid bug spray; at about the 40 second mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54mo6VXO17U
 
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Ivan Seeking said:
Check out this old commercial for Raid bug spray; at about the 40 second mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54mo6VXO17U

What's a little RAID going to hurt after the thermonuclear bombs blow up while you're hiding under your school desk?
 


Wouldn't it dry on the tomatoe and neutralize? I know nothing about chemistry. I wouldn't try that though.

Note: My herbs are growing indoors. Sick.
 


My experience is that Off attracts wasps. Therefore, I quite using it. For mosquitos, I'd spray myself with Raid. The little bastards still bit me, but I had the satisfaction of knowing that they would die from doing so.
 


As far as I know, RAID (the standard formulation) is non-persistent. A quick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypermethrin" shows that it degrades on soil and plants, but not on inert surfaces. So you should be safe spraying the normal raid on your tomatoes.
 
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Decades of innovation in synthetic organic compounds have left us with many wonderful compounds still in common use today, and still yielding many healthcare research papers, uncertain on ill effects. We medicate ourselves with just as many of these innovative synthetics, made for everything for toe-jam to heartburn to a cold, as we do inhaling them from all the goodies found in a building. I don't think X billion years of evolution has us well prepared for many of these thousands (ten thousands?) of compounds.
 
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I love raid,it makes a good substitute for vinegar in a salad dressing.
 


I don't see what the problem is. Just wash it off with water.

http://www.collectorsquest.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/radium-jar.jpg
 
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eh, so? what if i dusted my tomatoes with boric acid? should i not eat the tomatoes?
 


Ivan Seeking said:
Is that what Raid is made from? Is Boric acid used on food?

the point is simply that bug physiology is different than human physiology. if a bug gets a bit of borate on his self and ingests it while preening, it poisons him (neurally, iirc). but for we humans, we'd have to eat it by the spoonful just to get a bit of hormonal disruption. environmental exposure to borate is non-toxic, and we actually need a small amount.

so, there are ways to kill bugs without any significant harm to mammals. i use Dawn dishwashing detergent to kill the fleas on my cats. it is surprisingly effective.
 


Ivan Seeking said:
Is that what Raid is made from? Is Boric acid used on food?

No. Modern Raid is pyrethroids, synthetic variations of a natural insecticide made by chrysanthemum flowers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrethroid

I'm not sure what it was historically, I'm guessing organophosphates?
 


Tomatoes smoke better on the grill when done with a little Raid.*

*Satire warning.