However, pesticides for the home garden that contain exactly the same substance will continue to be allowed for sale since the issue is under the authority of the Ministry of Agriculture and not the Ministry of Environmental Protection
The Ministry of the Environment informed the marketing chains, do-it-yourself chains and stores that on January 1, 2008 the licensing of all home and yard sanitary pesticides containing organophosphates of the chlorpyrifos and diazinon type will be revoked. As of this date, the sale of the materials will be prohibited in Israel. The points of sale that will be in stock will be asked to evacuate them to Ramat Hovav according to the procedure for handling hazardous materials.
The decision to ban the sale of products containing organic phosphors was made following studies conducted around the world, according to which exposure of pregnant women and babies to these substances could cause damage to the development of fetuses and babies, a decrease in the weight of newborns and a decrease in the head circumference of newborns. Some damages are irreversible.
Following the studies, the American Environmental Quality Authority made a decision several years ago to stop marketing the products for the home, the garden and some agricultural crops. The implementation of the ban in Israel has been postponed several times, but now a final date has been set for stopping the sale of the dangerous products and instructions have been issued for their removal.
Despite the decision of the Ministry of the Environment, the sale of pesticides containing organic phosphorus for the home garden will continue, since the responsibility for pesticides for the garden rests with the plant protection services of the Ministry of Agriculture, which did not make a similar decision.
