CIA Labs

Custom Industrial Analysis Labs

  • Price List
  • Request Quote
  • Submit a Sample
  • Contact

CIA Labs gets new facilities

March 5, 2021 By Robert

We outgrew our old facilities. We now have plenty of room in out new facilities located at 301 South 7th Street in Saint Joseph.

CIA Labs in Saint Joseph, Missouri
CIA LABS have moved into our new facilities at 301 South 7th Street in Saint Joseph, MO.
More lab instruments located at the CIA Labs located in Saint Jospeh, MO.
Our new facilities give us plenty of room for our lab test.
Lab machines in the CIA Labs facilites in Saint Jospeh, MO.
Our new facilities has much more room. We outgrew our old facilities.
Pictured are some of our instruments in our new lab facilities.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Chemistry Lab, Custom Lab, Missouri, Saint Joseph

Atomic Absorption Instrument Purchased

March 19, 2015 By Richard M. Schwarz, Ph. D.

Atomic Absorption Analysis Service

CIA Labs has purchased and qualified a new atomic absorption instrument to perform metal analysis. This instrument is state-of-the-art and will enhance CIA’s traditional metal analysis business.

Atome Absortion Instrument

Blue flame of the atomic absorption instrument

Filed Under: Blog, Chemicals Analysis, In the Lab, Instruments

Pyrethrins, Permethrins: You don’t want to kill your cat, do you?

October 20, 2014 By Richard M. Schwarz, Ph. D. Leave a Comment

Dog and cat owners should be careful with spot on treatments

If you must, call us cat lovers. CIA Labs has developed a new HPLC method for detecting and analyzing pyrethrins and pyrethroids.

On the market today, many of the pest control products for pets contain pyrethrins and pyrethroids, and they do their job brilliantly and safely. But beware…

The ones containing pyrethroids can kill your cat.

Pyrethrins are natural

Chrysanthemum plants have been used insect repellants as far back as the Chinese Ming Dynasty, perhaps even further. Place chrysanthemums around the house and they can keep mosquitos away. Planted in the garden as companion plants, they repel aphids, cabbage worms, and other insects.

cyThe chrysanthemum flowers are also known for their beauty, which only adds to their popularity as companion plants.

The chrysanthemums are so effective, an insecticide industry has risen from the pyrethrins contained within them. Its seed pods are harvested for its pyrethrum (any number of pyrethrins). Pyrethrins are extracted and then suspended in oils and water for use in insecticide sprays and foggers, mixed in powder for flea powders.

According to this [Oregon State University Extension Pyrethrum, Pyrethrins, Pyrethroids document], Pyrethrins include…

  • cinerin I
  • cinerin II
  • jasmolin I
  • jasmolin II
  • pyrethrin I
  • pyrethrin II

Pyrethrins are generally safe for mammals. For most insects, however, it’s a different story. Pyrethrins can cause the insect’s nervous systems to fire repeatedly, thus usually resulting in its death. Again, pyrethrins are natural, and therefore, causes the insect’s death natuarlly.

Pyrethroids are not natural

Pyrethrums’s effectiveness, unfortunately, wears off all too quickly. Exposure to the sun makes them unsuited as agriculture pesticides. Flea powders require constant re-applying. To combat this, pyrethroids were created in the laboratory. These are generally safe for most mammals, except—you guessed it—cats.

Pyrethroids include…

  • permethrin
  • phenothrin
  • etofenprox
  • fenvalorate

Pyrethroids are found in many dog pesticides, namely fleas and ticks spot-on treatments. Pyrethroids have founded wide use throughout the pesticide industry.

Really, really, read those labels

It turns out that cat owners are treating their cats with dog-only spot-on treatments, which is tragic. Cats have been dying.

It should be noted that owners can still poison their cat even after applying spot-on on their dogs. The cat need only to come in contact with the dog and then the cat digests the permethroid when it grooms itself afterwards.

Disclaimer

We are not veterinarians. But we do a lot of contract laboratory analysis work for the animal pharmaceutical industry.

By the way, we do love cats. We love dogs too. We hate ticks and fleas as much as the next guy.

Read those labels.

Other Resources regarding Pyrethrum and Pyrethroids:

Permethrin and Pyrethrum Insecticides – What’s The Difference?

Wikepedia’s Chrysanthemumhttp entry

Wikepedia’s Pyrethrin entry

Australian Veterinary Journal report on the toxicity of permethrines in cats, (Volume 86,  Issue 1-2, pages 32–35, January 2008)

Pyrethrum; this one is hard to read because of its page background.

Health Effects

NPIC Pyrethrins Factsheet

photo credit: sgamble48 via photopin cc

photo credit: .Bambo. via photopin cc

Filed Under: Blog, Chemicals Analysis Tagged With: permethrins, pyrethrins, pyrethroids, pyrethrum

  • Home
  • Price List
  • Blog
  • Request a Quote
  • Submit a Sample
  • Jobs
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2023 CIA Labs - Site Created by Lorimor Studios - Log in

CIA Labs, 301 South 7th Street, P.O. Box 3022, St. Joseph, Mo, 64501
Phone: (816) 232-8007 - Email: cialabs@cialabs.com