May 25, 2011 – Propoxur And Bed Bugs
QUESTION:
I live in Ohio and our senator is trying to get the EPA to allow Propoxur to be used for killing Bed Bugs. I can't find that much info on this chemical and how it works. What do you think of Propoxur and will it work in the control of this bad bug?
ANSWER:
Propoxur is the generic name of the active ingredient that was most commonly formulated as "Baygon" insecticides, and it came in aerosol, granular bait, liquid concentrate, and wettable powder forms. It was always a very good material for cockroaches and other household pests, and as far as I know also was good for bed bugs. It is a Carbamate insecticide, and since the carbamates and organophosphates were essentially removed from our urban uses right around the time the Common Bed Bug made its re-emergence in this country we really did not have much chance to take it for a test run against this pest. On a side note it is interesting and sad to see the awful mis-information running around on the internet about this active ingredient - and frankly pretty much any pesticide when you read the strings of responses in Q&A forums. For example "it can be dangerous to our health if it is misused". Gee, could we say the same thing about aspirin and vitamins?
Dr. Michael Potter gave a talk recently through NPMA where he updated the state of the industry on bed bug control around the world, and suggested that in other countries where organophosphates and carbamates are still legally being used the pest control industry in those countries does not consider the common bed bug to be a particularly difficult pest to control. Of course, one of the theories on why the bed bug made this comeback is the loss of these families of insecticides, as they were traditionally highly effective on this insect. Now the message from our researchers and consultants is that insecticides alone are unlikely to eradicate an entrenched population of bed bugs, and that there currently seems to be no magic bullet product. That being said, MANY pest control companies are having excellent results with the many brand name products currently available, so I wouldn't put all the blame on the active ingredients we use now, nor would I want us to start thinking that if we can just get propoxur back we can start relying totally on a chemical application. It just is not going to be that easy.
What are the chances of getting propoxur or any organophosphate or DDT back into our use as a stop-gap measure for bed bug control? In my cynical opinion probably zero. Our government decision makers are heavily influenced and controlled by public opinion, and public opinion is controlled by what they read and hear in the media, and the popular media would raise a major ruckus if they thought "banned" pesticides were going to be allowed back into use. The anti-pesticide groups would hit the road again with their campaigns of disinformation and emotional rhetoric and give their dire warnings of how we are all going to die if this terrible nerve poison is back in use. (Gee, how could this be taken as cynical?)
I think propoxur probably would be a very good insecticide to use (if they control the odor concerns with the a.i.), but maybe no better than many of the other products now available if they are used properly and with the additional non-chemical techniques we know are necessary.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
I live in Ohio and our senator is trying to get the EPA to allow Propoxur to be used for killing Bed Bugs. I can't find that much info on this chemical and how it works. What do you think of Propoxur and will it work in the control of this bad bug?
ANSWER:
Propoxur is the generic name of the active ingredient that was most commonly formulated as "Baygon" insecticides, and it came in aerosol, granular bait, liquid concentrate, and wettable powder forms. It was always a very good material for cockroaches and other household pests, and as far as I know also was good for bed bugs. It is a Carbamate insecticide, and since the carbamates and organophosphates were essentially removed from our urban uses right around the time the Common Bed Bug made its re-emergence in this country we really did not have much chance to take it for a test run against this pest. On a side note it is interesting and sad to see the awful mis-information running around on the internet about this active ingredient - and frankly pretty much any pesticide when you read the strings of responses in Q&A forums. For example "it can be dangerous to our health if it is misused". Gee, could we say the same thing about aspirin and vitamins?
Dr. Michael Potter gave a talk recently through NPMA where he updated the state of the industry on bed bug control around the world, and suggested that in other countries where organophosphates and carbamates are still legally being used the pest control industry in those countries does not consider the common bed bug to be a particularly difficult pest to control. Of course, one of the theories on why the bed bug made this comeback is the loss of these families of insecticides, as they were traditionally highly effective on this insect. Now the message from our researchers and consultants is that insecticides alone are unlikely to eradicate an entrenched population of bed bugs, and that there currently seems to be no magic bullet product. That being said, MANY pest control companies are having excellent results with the many brand name products currently available, so I wouldn't put all the blame on the active ingredients we use now, nor would I want us to start thinking that if we can just get propoxur back we can start relying totally on a chemical application. It just is not going to be that easy.
What are the chances of getting propoxur or any organophosphate or DDT back into our use as a stop-gap measure for bed bug control? In my cynical opinion probably zero. Our government decision makers are heavily influenced and controlled by public opinion, and public opinion is controlled by what they read and hear in the media, and the popular media would raise a major ruckus if they thought "banned" pesticides were going to be allowed back into use. The anti-pesticide groups would hit the road again with their campaigns of disinformation and emotional rhetoric and give their dire warnings of how we are all going to die if this terrible nerve poison is back in use. (Gee, how could this be taken as cynical?)
I think propoxur probably would be a very good insecticide to use (if they control the odor concerns with the a.i.), but maybe no better than many of the other products now available if they are used properly and with the additional non-chemical techniques we know are necessary.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
