County Learns You Can’t Use Logic on Fire-Ant Mounds After All

Last week, you thought Logic was the answer to all your fire-ant-killing prayers. But it’s back to the drawing board as state officials confirmed Friday that the pesticide isn’t available for sale in California.

County officials were surprised to learn that Logic--which resembles freshly grated Parmesan cheese--couldn’t be bought in California. Last week, the Orange County Agricultural Commissioner’s office staged an elaborate demonstration for the media, touting the pesticide’s use as a remedy by homeowners looking to halt fire ants in their tracks.

The mix-up was blamed on an accounting lag at the state Department of Pesticide Regulation. Its computer system does not yet reflect the manufacturer’s decision to pull Logic off the market, said agricultural officials.

“The system is not broken,” said Orange County Deputy Agricultural Commissioner Steve Hill. “This instance does not show a glitch. . . . It’s just the timing is unfortunate.”

The county went to great pains last week demonstrating how to sprinkle tablespoons of Logic around ant mounds. Officials had hoped to give homeowners a stopgap solution to killing the ants until next week, when the Department of Food and Agriculture is expected to announce recommendations on how to eradicate the pest.

Until then, county officials suggest that homeowners use Combat or ask at their local hardware or gardening stores for tips on how to stop the ants.

The manufacturer of Logic, Novartis Crop Protection, decided in January it would not seek to renew approval to sell the product in California. An identical product, marketed as Award, is available but hard to come by because it is sold only through major agricultural distributors that do business mostly with licensed professionals.

Novartis spokesman Ken Gordon said the company was surprised to learn through newspaper articles about the promotion of its product, a soybean-oil-and-corn-grits compound that contains a sterilizing ingredient called fenoxycarb, which stops growth of ant colonies.

Gordon said the company, which is based in North Carolina, decided it would not sell Logic in California any more because it hopes to market a less toxic alternative called Varsity.

State officials have blamed the mix-up on the manufacturer’s decision to let its registration lapse, instead of notifying the state of its intention to remove the product from the market.

“If the company had formally notified us,” said spokeswoman Veda Federighi of the state Environmental Protection Agency, “we would have had a way to tell the county and others” that the product was not available for homeowners.