Is There a Boom Or Bust Coming For Natural Pest Control?
The planet is definitely going green. "Green" could be the color of environmental stress, the impetus that drives cuttingedge technology, the buzz word of the conscious. Concern for the environment and man's impact on it is bringing a ton of new services to promote pest control isn't any exception. Pest Control Sandy are growing in popularity, especially in the industrial industry. Even eco-savvy residential consumers are asking about natural alternatives to traditional pesticides, but their ardor often cools when faced with the 10 percent to 20% cost differential and lengthier treatment times, sometimes a few weeks.
The increasing of America's environmental consciousness, along with increasingly stringent national regulations governing traditional chemical pesticides, seems to be altering the pest control industry's focus on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods. IPM is considered not merely safer for the environment, but safer for people, pets and secondary scavengers such as owls. Of 378 pest management companies surveyed in 2008 by Pest Control Technology magazine, also two-thirds said they offered IPM professional services of some sort.
Rather than jelqing pest internet sites with a poisonous cocktail of insecticides intended to kill,'' IPM is targeted on chemical avoidance techniques created to keep insects out. While non - or - no-toxicity services and products could also be used to encourage pests to package their bags, control and removal efforts focus on finding and eliminating the causes of infestation: entry points, attractants, harborage and food.
Notably popular with schools and nursing homes charged with protecting the health of the nation's youngest and oldest citizens, people at highest risk from hazardous chemicals, IPM is grabbing the interest of hotels, office buildings, apartment complexes and other commercial sectors, as well as eco-conscious residential customers. Founded in equivalent portions by ecological concerns and health hazard fears, fascination with IPM is bringing a range of fresh environmentally-friendly pest control products -- both high- and - low tech -- to promote.
In an Associated Press interview posted on MSNBC on the past April, Green clarified,"A mouse could squeeze through a hole the size of a pencil diameter. Therefore, in case you have secured a quarter-inch gap under your door, as far as a mouse is concerned, there isn't any door there at all." Cockroaches can slither through a oneeighth inch crevice.
IPM has been"a better approach to pest control to the health of your house, the surroundings and your household," said Cindy Mannes, spokeswoman for the National Pest Management Association, the 6.3 billion pest control industry's trade association, at exactly the exact same Associated Press story. However, because IPM is a comparatively recent addition to this pest control arsenal, Mannes cautioned that there is very little industry consensus on this is of services that are green.
In an effort to produce industry standards for IPM services and suppliers, the Integrated Pest Management Institute of the United States created the Green Shield Certified (GSC) program. IPM prefers mechanical, physical and cultural methods to control insects, but might use bio-pesticides produced from naturally occurring materials such as animals, plants, bacteria and certain minerals.
The others, like trained dogs who sniff out bed pests, look unnaturally lowtech, but employ innovative techniques to reach results. For instance, farmers used dogs' sensitive noses to sniff out pests for years and years; nevertheless training dogs to sniff out explosives and drugs is a relatively recent development.
Another fresh pest control procedure is contraceptive. After San Francisco was jeopardized by mosquitoes carrying potentially lifethreatening West Nile Virus, bike messengers were hired to flee the city and drop packets of biological insecticide in to the city's 20,000 storm drains. A kind of contraceptive for mosquitoes, the new method was considered safer compared to airborne spraying with the compound pyrethrum, the typical mosquito abatement procedure, as demonstrated by a recent report published within the National Public Radio website.
Naturally, there are efforts underway to construct a better mousetrap. The advanced Track & Trap system attracts rats or mice to your food station dusted with fluorescent powder. Rodents leave a blacklight-visible course that allows pest control pros to seal entry paths. Coming soon, NightWatch uses pheromone research to trap and lure bed bugs. In Englanda sonic apparatus designed to repel rodents and rats is being analyzed, and the aptly named Rat Zapper is supposed to deliver a lethal shock using only two AA batteries.
Alongside this influx of fresh environmentally-friendly services and products rides a posse of national regulations. Critics of recent EPA regulations restricting the sale of certain pest-killing chemicals accuse the government of unfairly limiting a homeowner's ability to guard his residence. The EPA's 2004 banning of this compound diazinon for household usage a couple of years ago removed a potent ant-killer from the homeowner's insect control toolbox. Similarly, 2008 EPA regulations prohibiting the selling of small amounts of effective rodenticides, unless sold inside an enclosed trap, has eliminated rodent-killing compounds from the shelves of both hardware and home improvement stores, limiting the homeowner's ability to protect his property and family from these types of disease-carrying insects.
Acting for the public well, the government's pesticide-control actions are specially aimed at protecting kids. According to a May 20, 2008 report on CNN on the web, a study performed by the American Association of Poison Control Centers suggested that the rat poison had been responsible for nearly 60,000 poisonings between 2001 and 2003, 250 of these resulting in serious injuries or death. National Wildlife Service analyzing in California found rodenticide residue in most animal analyzed.
Consumers are embracing the notion of natural pest control and environmentally-friendly, cutting-edge pest management products and processes. Availability and government regulations are limiting consumers' self-treatment possibilities, forcing them to show into professional pest control businesses for relief in pest invasions. While it's proved a viable alternative for industrial customers, few residential customers seem willing to pay for high costs for newer, more laborintensive green pest control products and much fewer are willing to wait the extra week or 2 it may take these items to work. It's taking leadership efforts on the part of pest control businesses to teach consumers in the long term benefits of green and organic pest control treatments.
Despite the fact that the cold, hard fact is that if people have a problem with pests they are interested gone and so they want it gone now! If rats or rodents come within their residence ruining their property and endangering their family with disease, if termites or carpenter ants are eating away their home equity, if roaches are threatening their kitchen or should they are sharing their bed with bed bugs, consumer attention in ecological friendliness plummets. If people call a pest control firm, the main point is they need the fleas dead! Now! Pest control firms are standing facing the wave of consumer demand for prompt eradication by enhancing their natural and green pest control product offers. These fresh natural products take the most responsible long-term strategy to pest control; one that protects the environment, children, and our own wellness. Some times it's lonely moving from the tide of popular demand, but true leadership, at the pest control business, means embracing these new organic and natural technologies when they are not popular with the consumer - nonetheless.