Can There Be A Boom Or Bust Coming For Natural Pest Control?Posted by Banks Heller on February 25th, 2021 The entire world is definitely going green. "Green" could be your color of ecological concern, the impetus that pushes cutting edge technology, the buzz word of the conscious. Concern for the environment and man's impact on it's bringing a slew of new products to marketpest control isn't any exception. Environmentally friendly pest control providers are growing in popularity, especially in the industrial industry. Even eco-savvy residential consumers are requesting about natural alternatives to pesticides that are traditional, but their ardor often stinks when confronted by the 10% to 20% cost differential and longer treatment intervals, some times a couple weeks. The raising of America's environmental consciousness, coupled with increasingly stringent national regulations governing traditional chemical pesticides, appears to be shifting the pest control industry's attention to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques. IPM is considered not just safer to the environment, yet safer for people, pets and secondary scavengers such as owls. Of 378 pest control organizations surveyed in 2008 from Pest Control Technology magazine, also two-thirds said that they offered IPM services of some sort. Rather than jelqing pest websites with a noxious cocktail of powerful insecticides intended to kill, IPM is targeted on environmentally-friendly prevention techniques designed to keep insects out. While non - or no-toxicity services and products could also be utilised to encourage pests to package their bags, control and removal efforts revolve around finding and eliminating the root of infestation: entry points, attractants, harborage and food. Particularly popular with schools and assisted living facilities charged with guarding the health of the nation's youngest and oldest citizens, people at greatest risk from poisonous chemicals, IPM is catching the eye of hotels, office buildings, apartment complexes and other industrial businesses, in addition to low-income residential clients. Founded in equivalent portions by ecological concerns and health danger fears, fascination with IPM is bringing a plethora of fresh environmentally friendly pest management services and products -- both high- and - low-tech -- to promote. "Probably the most effective product out there's actually a door sweep," confided Tom Green, president of the Integrated Pest Management Institute of North America, a nonprofit company that prides green exterminating organizations. In an Associated Press interview posted on MSNBC online last April, Green clarified,"A mouse can squeeze through a gap the size of a pen diameter. Therefore, in the event you've found a quarter-inch gap underneath your doorway, so far as a mouse is more concerned, there isn't any door there at all." Cockroaches can slither via a one eighth inch crevice. IPM is"an improved way to pest control to the wellness of the house, the environment and the household," explained Cindy Mannes, spokeswoman for the National Pest Management Association, the 6.3 billion pest control industry's trade association, in the same Associated Press story. However, because IPM is still a rather recent addition to the pest control toolbox, Mannes cautioned that there's little industry consensus on the definition of green services. In an effort to produce industry standards for IPM services and suppliers, the Integrated Pest Management Institute of North America created the Green Shield Certified (GSC) software. Pinpointing pest control services and products and businesses that eschew conventional pesticides in support of environmentally friendly control techniques, GSC is backed by the EPA, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and HUD. IPM prefers mechanical, cultural and physical procedures to control pests, but may use bio-pesticides produced from naturally occurring materials like animals, bacteria, plants and certain minerals. The others, like trained dogs that sniff out bed bugs, seem unnaturally lowtech, but employ state-of-the-art techniques to reach effects. As an example, farmers used dogs' sensitive noses to sniff out pests for centuries; however, training dogs to sniff out explosives and drugs is a relatively recent progress. Using those very same techniques to show dogs to sniff out termites and bed bugs is considered cuttingedge. Still another new pest control procedure is birthcontrol. When San Francisco was threatened by mosquitoes carrying potentially deadly West Nile Virus, bicycle messengers were hired to flee the town and shed packets of biological insecticide into the city's 20,000 storm drains. A kind of birth control for mosquitoes, the new method was considered safer than aerial spraying with the chemical pyrethrum, the normal mosquito abatement procedure, according to a recent report published within the National Public Radio site. Of course , there are efforts to construct a better mouse trap. The innovative Track & Trap system attracts rats or rodents to your food station dusted with powder. Rodents leave a blacklight-visible trail which allows pest control experts to secure entrance avenues. Coming soon, night watch uses pheromone research to lure and trap bed bugs. Back in England, a sonic device made to repel rats and squirrels is being analyzed, as well as the aptly called Rat Zapper is supposed to provide a deadly jolt using just two AA batteries. With this influx of new environmentally-friendly services and products rides a posse of national regulations. Even the EPA's 2004 banning of the chemical diazinon for household usage a couple of years past removed a potent ant-killer from the homeowner's insect control arsenal. Similarly, 2008 EPA regulations prohibiting the selling of small quantities of effective rodenticides, unless sold inside a specific snare, has eliminated rodent-killing chemicals from the shelves of hardware and diy stores, limiting the homeowner's ability to protect his family and property from these types of disease-carrying pests. Acting for people well, the authorities pesticide-control actions are especially aimed at protecting children. In accordance with a May 20, 2008 report on CNN on the web, a study conducted by the American Association of Poison Control Centers signaled that rat poison had been responsible for nearly 60,000 poisonings between 2001 and 2003, 250 of these leading to serious injuries or death. National Wildlife Service examining in California found rodenticide deposit in every creature analyzed. Individuals are embracing the idea of pest control and environmentally friendly, cutting-edge pest management products and processes. Availability and government regulations are increasingly limiting consumers' self-treatment options, forcing them to show to pest control organizations for respite in pest invasions. As this has proved a viable choice for business clients, few residential customers seem willing to pay for higher charges for newer, more labor intensive green pest control services and products and much fewer are prepared to wait for the extra week or 2 it might take these items to work. It is taking direction efforts on the part of pest control companies to teach consumers in the long term benefits of green and natural pest treatments.Like it? Share it! More by this author |