Australia to approve hydrogen cyanide in the products Bluefume Fumigant and Bluefume-D Fumigant

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) is considering an application from Draslovka Services Pty Ltd for registration of the products Bluefume Fumigant and Bluefume-D Fumigant, each containing 976 g/kg of the new active constituent hydrogen cyanide, as a liquid vapouriser (LV) formulation. The products are intended for use as an indoor fumigant for the control of beetles, weevils, borers, moths, mites, cockroaches and rodents in empty structures. Only fumigators authorised under state and territory legislation who also complete the applicant’s product stewardship program can purchase or use these products. 

Hydrogen cyanide acts by inhibition of mitochondrial respiration by blocking electron transfer at the cytochrome c oxidase and the terminal oxidase enzymes, thereby reducing the availability of oxygen and causing hypoxia and cellular destruction. Hydrogen cyanide is a member of the cyanide group of compounds which are designated Group 24B insecticides by the Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC 2022).

Bluefume Fumigant is a liquid vaporizer which is supplied in pressurised stainless steel cylinders and is applied from outside the structure by a certified fumigator via a distribution system using only approved equipment.

Bluefume-D Fumigant is a liquid vaporizer consisting of wood pulp discs (discoids) impregnated with hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and distributed manually in empty structures by a certified fumigator. The discs are supplied in gas-tight lacquered and tinplated steel cans, which are opened inside the structure to be treated. Once the can is opened with a Draslovka-approved can opener, volatile HCN is slowly released from the discs as a function of the ambient temperature.

Bluefume is currently registered in the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Morocco and the EU (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain) as Bluefume Fumigant or Uragan D2 and is supplied in either cylinders or cans. Bluefume-D Fumigant is currently also registered in New Zealand as Bluefume-D.

APVMA invites comment from 17 January 2023 to 14 February 2023 on whether approval of the active constituent and registration of the product should be granted.