If you notice a physical or behavior change in your pet after you apply an organophosphate product, remove the product from the pet, if practical, and then contact your vet. Long-term effects are harder to identify. While still young, children exposed to organophosphates might develop asthma. In the longer term, the damage these products do may not appear for decades, and may never be traced. It may include increased incidence of cancer.
Organophosphates work by poisoning the insect s nervous system.
They block the breakdown of the nervous system messenger chemical, acetylcholine, thereby interfering with the transmission of nerve signals in the brain. Unfortunately, humans, pets, and insects alike all rely on acetylcholine in their nervous system, and for this reason, these pesticides are dangerous to all of us. In the presence of organophosphates, acetylcholine builds up in the body. The resulting interference with nerve transmissions is of such a magnitude that it actually kills insects. In overdoses, organophosphates can also kill people and pets.