WOODVILLE — Thousands of tiny beetle-like insects were stirred into an East Texas lake on Wednesday, and state officials hope the bugs are hungry: they’re being used to fight a quick-growing exotic plant carpeting patches of water and threatening to …
Pests in the NewsAugust 18, 2011
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Mel and I also bring in dead leaves that get ground up in seat cushions and wedged under radiators. We bring in live insects, too, because the screen door is usually ajar. In the morning, dead bug bodies crowd the windowsills after a night of futile …
Pests in the NewsAugust 18, 2011
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“But,” he added, “a chemical that is bad for the health of one life form, say insects and weeds, is not likely to be good for humans. We need much better and more thorough safety testing for substances that we use in industry and for pest control.”
Pests in the NewsAugust 18, 2011
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 USA Today |
Pest control association says bedbug infestations are on the uptick
USA Today So says a new survey from the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) survey. It found that infestations — even in hospitals — are up over last year. Even the pest–control industry "has been surprised" by the resurgence of bedbugs and "where … Bedbug problem getting worse, survey saysBoston Globe |
Pests in the NewsAugust 18, 2011
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Aliens attack and drive out natives
Gulf Breeze News The US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) proclaimed August as "Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Awareness Month." Invasive pests and diseases can impact our communities and the natural landscape, … |
Pests in the NewsAugust 18, 2011
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QUESTION:
What happens when a person comes in contact with a pesticide after it has dried?
ANSWER:
This speaks to a couple of issues Dominick, and these include the affinity pesticide molecules have for a surface and the relative toxicity of that dried residue. As we know, nearly all pesticide Labels for products that are mixed with water and applied wet as a spray or fog will recommend keeping people and pets off of the treated surface “until the spray has dried”. This is an important consideration for treatments such as fleas or bed bugs where large areas of carpets or other interior surfaces may be treated. It often is a standard recommendation from PMP’s that the occupants stay out for 2 hours, or 4 hours, but the proper protocol would be to stay out until the floor or walls or beds are DRY, and this could very well be much longer than 4 hours depending on the weather and time of year.
From what I have learned over many years, pesticide molecules (the actual active ingredient) tends to cling or bind to the surface it is applied to. This may not be quite the case with particles like microencapsulated insecticides, but for other kinds fo sprays once the water has evaporated and the surface is dry it is very difficult to remove any significant amount of the active ingredient by casually contacting that surface. If someone were to lick the surface then sure, he could be re-dissolving it and removing it, but let’s hope that is not a common practice to lick carpets. Still, whenever we are able to apply an insecticide directly into cracks, crevices, and voids for the ideal control of the pest (bed bugs, roaches, etc.) that not only enhances the control effort but also hides the active ingredient from any human or animal contact.
My comparison, which hopefully is relatively accurate, would be like using a can of spray paint. While you are spraying the paint it is airborne and can be inhaled, and immediately after spraying it on a surface it is wet and could be touched and easily taken onto the skin. Once the paint dries you cannot remove it by touching the surface. This could be similar to spraying a pesticide – airborne mists could be inhaled and while still wet it easily gets onto the skin, but once dried it adheres to the surface quite tightly.
The second consideration is that of LD-50 and how much of that diluted spray material would have to be ingested or absorbed to realistically cause a health concern, and this would be a very high amount. I did the math once and hope it was accurate, but based on an LD-50 of 4000 mg/kg for permethrin insecticide, and this should be the LD-50 for the pure active ingredient, the amount of diluted permethrin at a 1% concentration (termite control) that would have to be swallowed by a 175 pound human to (presumably) cause his death would be a whopping 10 gallons. Even if he drank the concentrate liquid of 37% active ingredient it would take a full quart of that concentrate to reach the presumed LD-50 for that 175 lb human. Clearly this would be a deliberate effort on the part of that idiot to poison himself.
I believe that the vast majority of the pesticide products in use by our industry today have a tremendous safety factor once they are applied in diluted form and then dry. This is even a misconception that the internet spreads wildly with respect to “nontoxic” (their words, not mine) substances like boric acid. Boric acid dust is often a 98% concentrate, and even though the LD-50 of the pure boric acid is about equal to that of the pyrethroids the dust is not diluted for use, making the end use material far more hazardous than the end use water diluted insecticides like permethrin.
Bottom line – be sure to use the product as the Label requires, keep people and pets off the treated surface until it is dry, and there should be no health concerns or risk to the people.
Pest QuestionsAugust 18, 2011
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QUESTION:
Is there any Mole Cricket bait or insecticide that could be used on a lawn without poisoning my dog that uses that lawn for his bathroom?
ANSWER:
I believe you could feel comfortable with the use of many of the mole cricket products, including both baits and contact insecticides. Let’s do the bait products first. These are granular formulations and the intent is for the crickets to find and eat the granules that are spread on the soil surface. Many of these contain boric acid as the active ingredient, such as Niban baits and MotherEarth bait, and the boric acid is present in the bait at only 5%, meaning a dog would have to consume a tremendous amount of that bait even to feel ill. Properly used by scattering the bait over the surface the possibility of the dog licking up that large quantity would seem highly unlikely. The Label recommendation for the use of baits is to water the turf first, apply the bait late in the afternoon or early evening, and then not water for awhile afterward. This helps to draw the mole crickets out and keeps the bait available to them.
There are a great many contact insecticide products labeled for mole crickets, and you can see the entire list of all labeled products on PestWeb in our Product Documents resource. Select the tab on the right “Products by Target Pest”, then crickets, then mole crickets. Here you see that most of the products are synthetic pyrethroids, and these also have a very low toxicity to mammals such as dogs and cats, particularly when they are diluted with water to their extremely low use strength. Among the choices are many permethrin products, such as MasterLine Permethrin and Dragnet, and we can recognize that permethrin is also used in dog flea shampoos and even for head louse shampoos for children, a testament to the very low hazard this active ingredient poses to warm blooded animals.
The Label instructions for permethrin and probably all other contact insecticides suggests applying the diluted spray late in the afternoon or early evening and then “watering” it in with a 1/2 inch of water to get the active ingredient into the top layer of soil. This encourages contact by the mole crickets as they move to the surface to feed at night. It also moves the active ingredient away from potential contact by pets or children. However, given the LD-50 (relative toxicity) of permethrin to mammals, the amount of diluted material that would have to be contacted by the skin would be so huge that it is impractical to think someone could be poisoned by casual and momentary contact by walking on that treated turf.
Pest QuestionsAugust 17, 2011
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Walker said the university has hired a pest control company to use high heat treatment to exterminate the bugs. She said the method is 100 percent effective and she’s confident the rooms will be pest-free by when students arrive on campus. Last year …
Pests in the NewsAugust 16, 2011
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No one likes to open the sugar container and have a small colony of ants come crawling out of it. Trying to enjoy a meal outdoors with ants crawling all over you is no fun either. House damage from termites can cost thousands of dollars in repair bills. A …
Pests in the NewsAugust 16, 2011
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Locals claim demolition work at the site unleashed an army of furry pests onto their streets – and the only ones happy are the cats. “I’m glad they’re finally giving us these cans, but my cat’s been bringing home rats in his mouth since 2007,” said Alan …
Pests in the NewsAugust 16, 2011
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