The planet is definitely green. "Green" could be your color of ecological concern, the impetus which drives cutting edge technology, the buzzword of the socially conscious. Concern for the environment and man's impact on it is bringing a slew of new products to marketpest control isn't any exception. Environmentally friendly pest control services are growing in popularity, especially in the industrial industry. Even eco-savvy residential individuals are asking about natural alternatives to traditional pesticides, however, their ardor usually cools when confronted by the 10% to 20% cost differential and lengthier treatment times, some times several weeks.
The raising of America's environmental awareness, coupled with increasingly stringent federal regulations governing conventional chemical pesticides, appears to be shifting the pest control industry's attention to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods. Of 378 pest control organizations surveyed in 2008 by Pest Control Technology magazine, also two thirds said that they offered IPM services of some sort.
Instead of lacing pest web sites with a poisonous cocktail of powerful insecticides designed to kill,'' IPM focuses on chemical avoidance techniques developed to keep pests out. While low- or - no-toxicity products might also be utilised to encourage pests to pack their bags, control and removal efforts focus on finding and eliminating the causes of infestation: entrance points, attractants, harborage and food.
Particularly popular with schools and nursing homes charged with guarding the overall health of the nation's youngest and oldest citizens, those at highest risk from poisonous chemicals, IPM is catching the interest of hotels, office buildings, apartment complexes and other industrial businesses, as well as eco-conscious residential customers. Founded in equivalent portions by ecological concerns and health hazard fears, interest in IPM is bringing a host of fresh environmentally-friendly pest control products -- both high- and - low-tech -- to market.
"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 non-profit company that prides green exterminating companies. In an Associated Press interview posted on MSNBC online last April, Green explained,"A mouse could squeeze through a gap the size of a pencil diameter. So in the event that you have acquired a quarter-inch gap under your doorway, so far as being a mouse is concerned, there's no door there whatsoever." Cockroaches can slither through a oneeighth inch crevice.
IPM has been"a better approach to pest control to the wellness of the home, the environment and your family," said Cindy Mannes, spokeswoman for the National Pest Management Association, the 6.3 billion pest control industry's trade association, at exactly the same Associated Press story. But because IPM is a comparatively recent addition to the pest control toolbox, Mannes cautioned that there's not much industry consensus on the definition of services that are green.
Pinpointing pest control products and companies which eschew conventional pesticides in favor of environmentally friendly control techniques, GSC is supported by the EPA, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and HUD. IPM prefers mechanical, cultural and physical techniques to control pests, but may use bio-pesticides produced from naturally-occurring materials like animals, plants, bacteria and certain minerals.
Hazardous chemical sprays are giving way to new, sometimes unconventional, means of pests. Some are ultra high-tech like the quick freeze Cryonite process for eliminating bed bugs. Others, like trained dogs who sniff out bed pests, look decidedly lowtech, but employ innovative procedures to achieve effects.
Yet Pest Control Ware is birthcontrol. After bay area was threatened with mosquitoes carrying potentially life threatening West Nile Virus, bicycle messengers were hired to cruise the town and shed packets of biological insecticide into the town's 20,000 storm drains. Pest Control Ware of birth control for mosquitoes, the newest method has been considered safer than aerial spraying with the chemical pyrethrum, the normal mosquito abatement procedure, as shown by a recent story posted within the National Public Radio site.
Naturallythere are efforts to construct a better mouse trap. The advanced Track & Trap system attracts mice or rats to a food station dusted with fluorescent powder. Rodents leave a blacklight-visible trail that allows pest control experts to secure entry paths. Coming soon, NightWatch uses pheromone research to trap and lure bed bugs. In Englanda sonic device built to repel squirrels and rats is being tested, along with the aptly called Rat Zapper is purported to supply a deadly shock using just two AA batteries.
Alongside this influx of new environmentally friendly products rides a posse of federal regulations. Critics of recent EPA regulations restricting the sale of certain pest-killing chemicals accuse the government of limiting a homeowner's power to safeguard his home. Even the EPA's 2004 banning of the chemical diazinon for household use a few years past removed a potent ant-killer from the homeowner's pest control toolbox. Similarly, 2008 EPA regulations forbidding the sale of small quantities of effective rodenticides, unless sold inside an enclosed snare, has eliminated rodent-killing compounds from the shelves of both hardware and diy stores, limiting the homeowner's capacity to secure his property and family from these types of disease-carrying pests.
Acting for the public good, the authorities pesticide-control activities are especially geared toward protecting kids. Based on a May 20, 2008 report CNN online, a study performed by the American Association of Poison Control Centers suggested that the rat poison had been in charge of almost 60,000 poisonings between 2001 and 2003, 250 of these leading to serious accidents or death. National Wildlife Service analyzing in California found rodenticide residue in most creature analyzed.
Consumers are embracing the idea of natural pest control and environmentally friendly, cutting-edge pest control products and processes. Availability and government regulations are limiting consumers' self-treatment possibilities, forcing them to show into pest control businesses for relief in pest invasions. While it's established a viable solution for commercial clients, few residential clients seem willing to pay high prices for newer, more more laborintensive green pest control products and even fewer are prepared to wait for the additional week or two it may take the items to get the job done. It is taking leadership efforts on the part of pest control organizations to teach consumers in the long-term benefits of green and organic pest treatments.
Even though the cold, hard truth is that when people have a problem with pests , they want it gone and they need it gone today! If rats or mice are in their house ruining their property and threatening their family together with disease, if termites or carpenter ants are eating their home equity, if roaches are invading their toilet or should they're sharing their bed with bed bugs, even consumer interest in environmental surroundings plummets. If people call a pest control business, the bottom line is they want the pests dead! Now! Pest control firms are standing up against the wave of consumer requirement for prompt eradication by enhancing their natural and green pest control product offerings. These brand new all-natural products take the responsible long term strategy to pest control; one that protects the environment, kids, and our very own wellbeing. Some times it is alone moving from the wave of popular demand, but true leadership, at the pest control business, means embracing these new natural technologies even when they aren't popular with the consumer - yet.