Recently, chemical regulator APVMA announced that from 10 September 2025 it will be an offence under the AgVet code to have possession or custody of the cancelled active constituent Diazinon in Australia*.
This is big news as Diazinon is a poison used in 15 livestock antiparasitic products including the entire range of buffalo fly tags – now marketed by an Ag Chem duopoly of Elanco and Nutrien** along with sheep lice products, pet products and some “crop protection” chemicals.
Buffalo fly alone costs the Australian Beef industry in the vicinity of $170M per year and is the single biggest parasite borne impediment to beef production. (MLA ***) As the graph below shows however, 1/3 of that cost attributed to “fly” is “prevention” and much of that is in the form of chemicals such as Diazinon. This is a lucrative market controlled by a small number of multinational players.
Diazinon is an Organophosphate (OP). This is a class of chemical developed as nerve agents in WW2 by the German company I. G. Farben (now Novartis) and bought to market to replace DDT. Even short-term exposure to Diazinon damages the brain the nervous system. As well as livestock uses it’s commonly found in flea collars for pets and crop and garden pesticides****.
One of the greatest regrets of my professional life was my first “real job” that involved rolling out the Diazinon buffalo fly insecticidal ear tag “Patriot” into the Australian livestock market (no APVMA trials required!).
I regret my naivety as to the effect on health of the thousands (hundreds of thousands) of diazinon tags I was responsible for introducing. I learnt quickly as I got headaches & nausea from handling the tags, our warehouse staff got sick and I have no idea how many users had adverse effects and what the implications were for the environment, the animals and ultimately consumers that were exposed through the meat they ate (and continue to eat). The declining efficacy of the tags also resulted in chemical resistance in the pest populations being targeted. There was nothing good about these tags.
One of the drivers for the development of the locally produced Bos Bag for fly was my previous history with Diazinon and my frustration with the current chemical methods of parasite management in livestock.
I do wonder the reasons why (ultimately) Diazinon has been banned, as information on it’s shortcomings have been in the public arena for over 20 years with bans in many other markets. Why it took so long, and why 2023 saw such a noticeable promotion of the diazinon buffalo fly tags, and how they are still being dumped on the market today?
Did companies know the ban was coming in 2023 and was product being dumped on unsuspecting farmers and rural stores in preparation via paid (and unpaid) promotion through numerous government funded industry groups, media and marketing campaigns. Who would buy a banned product?
Oh to be a “fly on the wall” in some of those marketing meetings!
How many other products that were APVMA approved and considered “safe” in the past, are also in line to be banned (Fluproponate comes to mind – facing a review currently)?
It is time has come to look beyond “silver bullets” for the management of common livestock parasites.
Kandanga Farm Store has worked with Ag Solutions to develop nutritional products such as Bos Lik & Bos Phos that contain natural ingredients like Allicin that allow livestock to build resistance and aids such as the natural contact insecticide Grainsave (via Bos Bags) used rather than systemic poisons for parasite management – banned or not! The key to food production without poison is to be proactive rather than reactive and preparing for the onset of parasite season early!
To think that Diazinon was ever allowed to be part of the food chain beggars belief and to have it finally banned, but still in the market for the next 10 months rings alarm bells to me – given that is has been deemed unsafe.
Buying Certified Organic is the only true way to protect your family against the international chemical market so prevalent in our food chain today.
Graph source &*** https://www.mla.com.au/globalassets/mla-corporate/research-and-development/final-reports/bahe0327_final-report_revised.pdf
**** https://www.ewg.org/research/facts-about-diazinon
Article by Tim Scott – first published in Gympie Living Magazine
