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Jan 6, 2012 - Big, Bulky, and Bed Bugs
QUESTION:
I am concerned about how to effectively treat a couch for bed bugs. That piece of furniture is so massive and hard to get to. How to do it and what best to use? Also, any good, cheap heat treatments available to the little pest control firm?
ANSWER:
It is amazing to many folks in the General Public that bed bugs are simply not confined to "beds", and their eyes pop open pretty wide when we tell them that bed bugs now are found routinely on airplanes, in schools, in theaters, buses, delivery trucks, and just about anyplace that humans go and spend time. The potential for bed bugs to be in clothing in the infested home and then transported to a clothing store changing room exists, and must be accepted. Within an infested home bed bugs are going to hide close to anyplace they can find that blood meal, and they are also not restricted to feeding only at night. There is evidence that daylight feeding also occurs routinely.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
I am concerned about how to effectively treat a couch for bed bugs. That piece of furniture is so massive and hard to get to. How to do it and what best to use? Also, any good, cheap heat treatments available to the little pest control firm?
ANSWER:
It is amazing to many folks in the General Public that bed bugs are simply not confined to "beds", and their eyes pop open pretty wide when we tell them that bed bugs now are found routinely on airplanes, in schools, in theaters, buses, delivery trucks, and just about anyplace that humans go and spend time. The potential for bed bugs to be in clothing in the infested home and then transported to a clothing store changing room exists, and must be accepted. Within an infested home bed bugs are going to hide close to anyplace they can find that blood meal, and they are also not restricted to feeding only at night. There is evidence that daylight feeding also occurs routinely.
So, chairs, couches, recliners, etc. all are potentially infested and must be dealt with in some way. The couple of bed bug eggs that may be glued within the workings of that recliner represent a continuing infestation if they are not killed in some manner. Obviously, spraying every nook and cranny within a complicated recliner becomes a problem, as does opening up all those possible cavities within a large couch. Top this off with our current dilemma that insecticides are still not the ultimate answer to bed bug control, and you may hesitate to treat all the surfaces with a toxin anyhow. Heat, fortunately, is a very effective enemy of bed bugs, and a temperature of only 115 degrees, held for just 1 hour, should be lethal to all stages of the bugs. Get that temperature increasingly higher and the exposure time drops quickly. According to some previous studies a clothes dryer at 175 degrees takes just 5 minutes to kill bugs and eggs, and our experts now even tell us that running things through a hot wash first is not needed if the dryer can be used.
At the recent NPMA Conference there were no less than 25 vendors showing products or solutions for bed bugs, many of these offering heat treatments. More and more companies are setting up their bed bug management with localized or whole room/structure heating. The advantages are many, including eliminating the use of toxins and, if done properly, completing the eradication quickly. Some of the top companies still do use dusts and certain other insecticides along with the heat treatment to be doubly sure the work is done effectively, but heat is an excellent option.
You need two things - a sealed container that will hold the temperature at the effective level for the effective period of time, and a heat source. These are becoming more and more available. Some companies even use portable chambers that are modified (sealed) so that larger items like furniture can be placed in them, the doors closed and sealed, and the heat injected for the prescribed length of time. I hate to name brand names, but one image I have seen shows one of the "Pods" used for this.
One of the speakers at this recent NPMA Conference offered her results using a home-made "heat box", and the results were very positive. Essentially the box was made from plywood and uses a simple propane heater for the heat source. She suggested that you can Google "heat box Phil Koehler" to find the instructions online for building this device yourself, along with step by step instructions on using it. I just tried this and found an excellent PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Koehler (et. al.) from Univ. of Florida that would be extremely helpful to you in providing the options and instructions for this.
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Jan 5, 2012 - Changing A Pesticide
QUESTION:
Is the physical modification of pesticides by a commercial applicator legal in any state in the U.S.? For example, if Niban Granular Insect Bait were purchased and then modified into smaller granules by a physical blending/sifting process, would that be legal? If nothing like that is prohibited by the label is it something that can be done in Florida? Is the label only appropriate for the form that the pesticide is sold in? I imagine there MIGHT be some variance in the recommended application rate, but then again I think it is rated per pound, not by volume. I know this is an odd question and believe I know the answer, but appreciate your insight and appreciate having you to ask!
ANSWER:
Well, let's see how deeply I can get myself into trouble on this one. First, of course, if you were planning to RE-sell any pesticide you could not alter its form first. You could not blend it with other materials nor change the form it originally came in, as this would make you somewhat of a manufacturer yourself, and of course that would not be legal. If you do resell pesticides they must be resold in the form and original container that you yourself bought them in, unless you are licensed to make those kinds of changes.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
Is the physical modification of pesticides by a commercial applicator legal in any state in the U.S.? For example, if Niban Granular Insect Bait were purchased and then modified into smaller granules by a physical blending/sifting process, would that be legal? If nothing like that is prohibited by the label is it something that can be done in Florida? Is the label only appropriate for the form that the pesticide is sold in? I imagine there MIGHT be some variance in the recommended application rate, but then again I think it is rated per pound, not by volume. I know this is an odd question and believe I know the answer, but appreciate your insight and appreciate having you to ask!
ANSWER:
Well, let's see how deeply I can get myself into trouble on this one. First, of course, if you were planning to RE-sell any pesticide you could not alter its form first. You could not blend it with other materials nor change the form it originally came in, as this would make you somewhat of a manufacturer yourself, and of course that would not be legal. If you do resell pesticides they must be resold in the form and original container that you yourself bought them in, unless you are licensed to make those kinds of changes.
But, if you are only talking about making some changes prior to your use of a product, then I will offer two answers. The first would be to ask your own local regulatory agency for their guidance on this, as they would be the ones who would impose any action against you if it turns out to be illegal. The second answer is that "the Label is the Law" for a pesticide product right up to the moment that it is applied, and it would not matter what other things you add to a product or what changes you might make to it prior to use, you always have to follow the Label. If you mix several different products together, which is perfectly legal as long as any one of the Labels does not prohibit this mixing, you would have to follow the most stringent of the precautions and statements that exists on any of those labels. In other words, if one of the products was prohibited for use in a food area, the mixture of that product with others for application makes the whole stew illegal for use in a food area.
You would be correct in saying that the Label for dry products like granules and dusts will state that product's use as a certain weight per surface area - e.g. 1 lb of granules per 1000 sq. ft., etc. So, even if you ground those granules down to a finer texture you still would have to follow the Label on the amount used over that area. I think we would have to be realistic when it comes to changing the physical form that you purchase it in, and for a couple of reasons. First, the manufacturer has gone to a lot of trouble to come up with that product in the form you find in the package, and making granules smaller, for example, might actually be detrimental when it comes to effectiveness. Second, if we stick with this scenario of modifying granules to a smaller size, you could create some environmental hazard such as increased dust or drift when it is applied.
I will reveal a story about this from many years ago, and this I believe was with respect to some of the early insect granular baits. A complaint was that the granules were too large for some small ant species, such as Argentine or Odorous House ants, to easily pick up and carry away. Some vendor reps suggested putting those granules in a coffee grinder and pulverizing them to a smaller size. I somehow doubt that Costco would like us doing this in their public coffee grinders, and even worse this would be terribly illegal to put a pesticide in ANY container or device intended for human food. So, I don't know how you would be able to modify granules to a smaller size and still be legal.
If we think in terms of other kinds of formulations, such as a liquid pesticide, it may be legal to mix more than one product in the same application device, but it would not be legal to combine two concentrates in the same container and put them back on the storage shelf. Or, even if this turns out to be "legal" it probably ranks as a pretty bad idea. You would be starting to create a witch's brew that could get out of control. So, bottom line I suppose would be that if you needed a smaller granule for a particular pest or job the better answer would be to buy a different product that already offers that preferred particle size.
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Jan 4, 2012 - To Bite You Gotta Have Jaws
QUESTION:
Can house flies bite? Are there times in the life cycle when this would occur?
ANSWER:
No, The House Fly (Musca domestica) is completely unable to bite at any of its stages. The mouth of the adult fly is essentially a sponge, which the fly uses to soak up liquids that it ingests. If the tasty food the fly is sitting on is not yet in liquid form the fly will vomit on it, slop it around with that spongy mouth, and then slurp up the now liquid material. This mouth is far too weak to be able to penetrate skin in any manner. The larva of flies - maggots - also have no mechanism for biting, as their mouths are far too small and a maggot is not a blood feeder. However, let's have fun discussing this a bit.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
Can house flies bite? Are there times in the life cycle when this would occur?
ANSWER:
No, The House Fly (Musca domestica) is completely unable to bite at any of its stages. The mouth of the adult fly is essentially a sponge, which the fly uses to soak up liquids that it ingests. If the tasty food the fly is sitting on is not yet in liquid form the fly will vomit on it, slop it around with that spongy mouth, and then slurp up the now liquid material. This mouth is far too weak to be able to penetrate skin in any manner. The larva of flies - maggots - also have no mechanism for biting, as their mouths are far too small and a maggot is not a blood feeder. However, let's have fun discussing this a bit.
A fly similar to The House Fly that DOES bite and ingest blood is called the Stable Fly - Stomoxys calcitrans. This nasty critter readily bites, feeding on livestock, dogs, and our ankles if we leave them available. The mouth of the stable fly is a long, sharp beak or proboscis that it plunges into the skin, and it is not necessarily as polite as many other blood feeders are that first numb that area before biting. You generally feel the sharp pain of the bite from this fly.
While The House Fly maggots are not generally the ones involved, other maggots may be found feeding on human and other animal flesh, and in fact this may be purposely induced and referred to as Maggot Therapy. Blow flies are the ones that most often seek out fresh wounds on mammals, the adults depositing eggs on the wound and the maggots then feeding on the tissues in that area. If all goes well with blow flies the maggots feed only on dead tissues and leave the live stuff alone, and while we may prefer just some band aids and an aspirin there really seems to be a benefit from letting the maggots do their thing. Eating away the dead tissue helps to cleanse that wound, and the writhing and wriggling of the maggots seems to stimulate the healing process. I suppose an open-minded individual could describe the sensation as "ticklish", but there probably are not too many of those individuals out there.
We also have plenty of other blood-feeding flies around us, the largest being horse flies, next down deer flies, and then much smaller at no-see-ums, black flies, and mosquitoes. Seems as if Nature provided plenty of them and didn't need to toss The House Fly into the mix.
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Jan 3, 2012 - Blood Exposure
QUESTION:
A question on blood borne pathogens and disease in engorged bed bugs. It has not been shown that bed bugs transmit disease through routine feeding, but what about when a pest control operator is exposed to the blood the bug has consumed, such as when or if engorged bugs are inadvertently "popped"? Also, is exposure to large quantities of bed bug fecal accumulations dangerous to the p.c.o.'s health?
ANSWER:
Interesting question Richard, and my answer will probably weigh heavily on my own speculation or thoughts, but we can start with the current standard opinion of our most respected researchers on bed bugs, and this is that The Common Bed Bug - Cimex lectularius - continues to NEVER be shown to be capable of vectoring any blood borne pathogens from one human to another. Now, this generally is with respect to a pathogen being ingested by a bed bug and then passed along to the next blood host in a second feeding in the same manner that fleas or mosquitoes vector diseases. There appears to be no mechanism within a bed bug for this to happen. Two years ago, when Swine Flu became a health threat and the media overwhelmed us with horror stories about it, the internet came alive with opinions, blogs, and chat rooms stating that bed bugs could spread swine flu. This simply was inaccurate and unfortunate. Gee, gotta love the internet.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
A question on blood borne pathogens and disease in engorged bed bugs. It has not been shown that bed bugs transmit disease through routine feeding, but what about when a pest control operator is exposed to the blood the bug has consumed, such as when or if engorged bugs are inadvertently "popped"? Also, is exposure to large quantities of bed bug fecal accumulations dangerous to the p.c.o.'s health?
ANSWER:
Interesting question Richard, and my answer will probably weigh heavily on my own speculation or thoughts, but we can start with the current standard opinion of our most respected researchers on bed bugs, and this is that The Common Bed Bug - Cimex lectularius - continues to NEVER be shown to be capable of vectoring any blood borne pathogens from one human to another. Now, this generally is with respect to a pathogen being ingested by a bed bug and then passed along to the next blood host in a second feeding in the same manner that fleas or mosquitoes vector diseases. There appears to be no mechanism within a bed bug for this to happen. Two years ago, when Swine Flu became a health threat and the media overwhelmed us with horror stories about it, the internet came alive with opinions, blogs, and chat rooms stating that bed bugs could spread swine flu. This simply was inaccurate and unfortunate. Gee, gotta love the internet.
But, what about fresh blood in a bed bug suddenly ending up on your skin? Let me tell a story from a vector control class I attended years ago, when the topic of mosquitoes and AIDS was addressed, since so many people firmly believe that mosquitoes could be vectors of AIDS. This too has been soundly refuted with a great many studies, but the instructors of this course suggested that (purely hypothetical, I might add) if any insect is capable of transmitting AIDS from one human to another perhaps it could be deer or horse flies. Again, I stress that this was purely hypothetical and these insects have never been shown to be vectors of this disease. But, what they were suggesting was that these flies are "messy" feeders, slashing the skin open with their scissors-like mandibles and allowing the blood to flow. If they began feeding on infected blood and were interrupted before getting a full meal perhaps.......purely "perhaps" ...... they could fly to a second human host, open the skin, and perhaps allow some of the fresh blood from the first host to enter the blood stream of that second host.
May I stress once again this was purely hypothetical. I don't want anyone saying Mr. Pest Control says horse flies spread AIDS. But, in order for this even to work it would require that the infected blood somehow find its way into the second host via an opening in the skin and into the blood vessels. Simply popping an engorged bed bug or any other insect and getting that blood on unbroken skin to be washed off immediately should pose no potential for transmission. Pathogens in the blood would not be capable of burrowing through the barrier our skin provides. So, as long as you do not eat the bed bugs or have open sores available for that blood to get into I don't believe this is an issue for pest control technicians.
With respect to exposure to the fecal material, which of course is just dried blood, this also has not been discussed at any of the many bed bug seminars I have attended. I do believe that the fecal matter of any living organism should be considered "filth", and filth has a potential to have undesirable things growing on it, so I personally would protect myself from exposure to it and recommend that the feces be removed and the surface sanitized. Just as with rodent and bird droppings, it is less the dropping itself and more the pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and fungi that grown on this material that we do not want to inhale or ingest. Blood probably provides a great growth medium for pathogenic micro-organisms. Therefore it would be good policy to wear an appropriate respiratory device and gloves when working around these materials. It's also possible that the greater concern could be an allergic reaction due to foreign proteins in the fecal material, and our immune systems generally are not fond of foreign proteins that get into our bodies.
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Jan 2, 2012 - Sensitive Settings
QUESTION:
Silverfish in a hospital setting. What's the best control for them?
ANSWER:
Silverfish can be a real challenge, particularly in a very large building such as a hospital, and particularly given the sensitive nature of hospitals. These fast moving insects can cover a lot of ground between the voids they hide in and the places where they are seen foraging for food. Hopefully you can attack them in a very localized area if they are only being seen in a few rooms. Silverfish and firebrats feed on a wide variety of materials that includes dry grain-based human foods, dead insects, starchy materials such as the glue in book bindings or behind wallpaper, and even certain kinds of papers. On the exterior they often are found within piles of firewood or lumber, under items on the ground or concrete, and within debris such as piles of old cardboard boxes. On the interior they often will be noticed when some items are lifted from floors or tables and the hidden silverfish runs out from under. They are nocturnal, so they are usually seen only when disturbed in the daytime. They also commonly get trapped in sinks and bathtubs because they fell in, perhaps drawn to water, and could not get a grip on the slick porcelain to climb back out.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
Silverfish in a hospital setting. What's the best control for them?
ANSWER:
Silverfish can be a real challenge, particularly in a very large building such as a hospital, and particularly given the sensitive nature of hospitals. These fast moving insects can cover a lot of ground between the voids they hide in and the places where they are seen foraging for food. Hopefully you can attack them in a very localized area if they are only being seen in a few rooms. Silverfish and firebrats feed on a wide variety of materials that includes dry grain-based human foods, dead insects, starchy materials such as the glue in book bindings or behind wallpaper, and even certain kinds of papers. On the exterior they often are found within piles of firewood or lumber, under items on the ground or concrete, and within debris such as piles of old cardboard boxes. On the interior they often will be noticed when some items are lifted from floors or tables and the hidden silverfish runs out from under. They are nocturnal, so they are usually seen only when disturbed in the daytime. They also commonly get trapped in sinks and bathtubs because they fell in, perhaps drawn to water, and could not get a grip on the slick porcelain to climb back out.
The goal is to attack them at their source, but easier said than done. You can discourage their presence beginning on the outside, which presumably is where they originated, by removing all unnecessary clutter that brings them close to a building. For a hospital this is a challenge, but a walk around the exterior still might reveal a lot of things that encourage their presence next to the building. This particularly is the case at loading docks and back areas that customers do not normally see. On the inside you can recommend storing all boxes off the floor and on metal racks if possible, and if at all possible eliminate corrugated cardboard boxes. Silverfish commonly reside within voids such as wall voids and attics and drop ceilings, and with the permission of the hospital management you could treat these areas with a fog, using a product labeled for this application method in hospitals. On PestWeb you can view a list of ALL products labeled specifically for hospitals. Go into Product Documents, select "Products By Approved Site" / Structures / Commercial Structures / Hospitals. Similarly you can view a list of all products labeled for silverfish by selecting the tab "Products by Target Pest".
Given the sensitive nature of hospitals you need to show discretion on how you apply insecticides, and absolutely must ensure they are contained within whatever space you apply them to. Fogging may be tough to manage in this manner, other than fogging with wall voids using a void injector machine. If you can interview the people who work in the area where these insects are being seen you might get a handle on the likely voids the bugs are hiding in. For wall voids you might consider the use of an inorganic dust such as silica gel or diatomaceous earth. They can be injected with a duster that creates some turbulence to move the dust around in the void, and these products last for many years to kill insects by desiccation.
Silverfish also will accept some granular bait products, and I have seen good results using them in a hospital setting. Some of these include Dekko Silverfish Packs that are pre-loaded bait packets that could be placed in drop ceilings or attics. Another excellent product is Niban Granular bait, as well as some of the Intice granular baits from Rockwell. The granular baits can also be applied directly into wall voids using a small granule applicator such as the Centrobulb. You might also consider a careful application of a liquid spray, concentrating on likely travel locations of the insects, such as junctions of floor to ceiling or wall corners and wall to ceiling junctions. A microencapsulated product that is properly labeled for hospitals would probably offer the longest residual and perhaps be most easily acquired by the passing insect that crawls over the treated surface.
Insect glue traps also can be placed strategically to monitor the results and to determine where you may want to direct your treatments. These can be placed where they will not bother people working there, and you might even enlist some of the employees to check these for you and pass along whether or not they find any silverfish in them.
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Jan 1, 2012 - Ozone and Bed Bugs
QUESTION:
Does ozone kill bed bugs, and if so who makes an ozone generator that will do the job?
ANSWER:
At the last NPMA Conference there appeared to be a single vendor showing his ozone generating system for bed bug control, and I spent awhile listening to his talk about how it is used. Interestingly he also sells electric foggers and liquid pyrethrum for treating after the ozone application is completed to, in his words, "kill any bed bugs that are still alive". This alone gave me less confidence in his approach with ozone. I also do not believe that fogging the air in an infested room is going to have much effect on bed bugs that are secluded within mattresses, furniture, or equipment and walls, so that also seemed to be a sign of uncertainty about his knowledge of bed bugs.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
Does ozone kill bed bugs, and if so who makes an ozone generator that will do the job?
ANSWER:
At the last NPMA Conference there appeared to be a single vendor showing his ozone generating system for bed bug control, and I spent awhile listening to his talk about how it is used. Interestingly he also sells electric foggers and liquid pyrethrum for treating after the ozone application is completed to, in his words, "kill any bed bugs that are still alive". This alone gave me less confidence in his approach with ozone. I also do not believe that fogging the air in an infested room is going to have much effect on bed bugs that are secluded within mattresses, furniture, or equipment and walls, so that also seemed to be a sign of uncertainty about his knowledge of bed bugs.
There were a great many presentations and talks on bed bugs by our respected university researchers, and not a single session even mentioned ozone as a practical approach. However, I did ask one of the most involved researchers directly, while speaking with him, and when I mentioned ozone he just sort of rolled his eyes as a sign that he himself did not have much faith in this method. Perhaps this is because it is a very new idea that simply has not yet been independently tested, and perhaps ozone truly does kill bed bugs effectively, but until our university researchers study and embrace it I tend to be skeptical.
In a recent post on Bed Bug Central, which offers very up to date information on bed bug control, Cooper Pest Solutions stated that they have found current ozone treatments to be ineffective as a treatment of structures such as homes or apartments. The theory behind the use of ozone is that it seems to effectively kill many other kinds of living things, such as bacteria or even foul odors, and therefore it should also kill any insects. This may eventually turn out to be an effective technique, but for now the people I rely on for good information are not optimistic about the current technology.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
Dec 31, 2011 - Do You Hear A Ticking?
QUESTION:
I am in Arizona and found a few ticks on my two dogs. One was gray and fat and the other three were clustered together and were small with a brown/blackish color. My other dog had a cluster of something (either a scab or maybe eggs) by its ear with red skin irritation. My question is can ticks lay eggs somewhere on the dog's body too? I know they can lay them in the house, but I want to be sure. This is a new problem. My dogs have never had ticks and I want to get a good jump on them early in the game. I'm about to spray inside and out. Do you have any suggestions for treatment /eradication of dog ticks. Thank you in advance.
ANSWER:
I never say never when it comes to bugs, but it would seem to be highly unusual for the female tick to remain on the dog to deposit her eggs. I looked at a lot of references and scanned the internet and did not come up with any reliable sources that mentioned this possibility. Typically the female engorges during her final stage as the adult, drops off the host animal, and finds some other sheltered place to dump her mass of up to several thousand eggs. The fat gray one you saw was the engorged female and the others could have been males that may have clustered around the female looking for the opportunity to mate. They also could have been nymphs that all just found a good spot to feed, and sometimes ticks do cluster in certain places.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
I am in Arizona and found a few ticks on my two dogs. One was gray and fat and the other three were clustered together and were small with a brown/blackish color. My other dog had a cluster of something (either a scab or maybe eggs) by its ear with red skin irritation. My question is can ticks lay eggs somewhere on the dog's body too? I know they can lay them in the house, but I want to be sure. This is a new problem. My dogs have never had ticks and I want to get a good jump on them early in the game. I'm about to spray inside and out. Do you have any suggestions for treatment /eradication of dog ticks. Thank you in advance.
ANSWER:
I never say never when it comes to bugs, but it would seem to be highly unusual for the female tick to remain on the dog to deposit her eggs. I looked at a lot of references and scanned the internet and did not come up with any reliable sources that mentioned this possibility. Typically the female engorges during her final stage as the adult, drops off the host animal, and finds some other sheltered place to dump her mass of up to several thousand eggs. The fat gray one you saw was the engorged female and the others could have been males that may have clustered around the female looking for the opportunity to mate. They also could have been nymphs that all just found a good spot to feed, and sometimes ticks do cluster in certain places.
Pyrethroids should be effective against ticks, but the problem is getting the active ingredient into the possible places where the female has deposited those eggs. Certainly the best course of action is to inspect pets regularly and remove and kill the ticks immediately when found, crushing them thoroughly or cutting them in half. Their leathery bodies just don't want to die easily. This will prevent the full development of that female which then can wander into some hidden place where you may not find her during the application. She may go behind baseboards or some other obvious place, or she may crawl up into furniture, draperies, clothing, or any other hidden place where an insecticide treatment would not typically be done. This could leave those thousands of eggs available to hatch and the new (hungry) nymphs not exposed to any insecticide material. The eggs may not even hatch for a couple of months, possibly long after any active ingredient you applied has degraded and is ineffective anyhow. Prevention by early detection definitely is the best protocol.
But, if you do feel the need to treat it may need to be repeated a few times to ensure some residual material is still there when those new "seed" ticks, called the larvae, come out of hiding. Using a microencapsulated formulation could extend the residual considerably as well as place those thousands of microscopic capsules where the wandering ticks can gather them up on their bodies as they move about. Thoroughness will be the key for placing active ingredient anywhere the female may end up. It might be useful to place a lot of insect glue traps along the edges of walls to, and inspect these daily when you feel tick activity may begin.
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Dec 30, 2011 - Color Me Green For Good
QUESTION:
Do you know if there is an established or emerging color coding standard in the pest control industry that communicates to the applicator what type of chemical is in the tank? I once worked for a large pest control company in California and about 10 years ago they started slowly changing all their Insecticide/Termiticide rigs over to having a blue hose. I purchased a "Non-repellent" 1 gallon hand pump sprayer by B&G Equipment company which was colored with blue. And there are other examples I have seen relating to non-selective herbicides, pre-emergent herbicides & repellent insecticides. Thanks for all you do Mr. Pest Control. I LOVE UNIVAR!
ANSWER:
Well Jacob, it's likely to look like we've planted some fans out there, but thank you very much for the compliment. I have to say that I "love" Univar as well, and that is why I have been with this same company for 35 years. I appreciate the ethics and organization of my employer and the various people I have worked for.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
Do you know if there is an established or emerging color coding standard in the pest control industry that communicates to the applicator what type of chemical is in the tank? I once worked for a large pest control company in California and about 10 years ago they started slowly changing all their Insecticide/Termiticide rigs over to having a blue hose. I purchased a "Non-repellent" 1 gallon hand pump sprayer by B&G Equipment company which was colored with blue. And there are other examples I have seen relating to non-selective herbicides, pre-emergent herbicides & repellent insecticides. Thanks for all you do Mr. Pest Control. I LOVE UNIVAR!
ANSWER:
Well Jacob, it's likely to look like we've planted some fans out there, but thank you very much for the compliment. I have to say that I "love" Univar as well, and that is why I have been with this same company for 35 years. I appreciate the ethics and organization of my employer and the various people I have worked for.
I am confident that there currently is no industry-wide standard for colors that represent anything with respect to the pesticides. Some manufacturers are getting on the "green" bandwagon by producing equipment or labeling that is predominantly green in color, to emphasize that their product fits well in a green pest management program. This may very well catch on, but at this time is appears to be only a limited and private effort in marketing. The use of certain colors of hoses or tanks or other application equipment also seems to be only a personal choice by any company. Some manufacturers are offering these varieties of colors - black, white, brown, green rodent stations for example, or various colors of Actisol injectors. B&G offers several colors of hoses to distinguish their "acid" sprayer from their standard sprayer from their "non-repellent" sprayer, and the buyer can use them for these various purposes if he pleases.
So, at this time it appears to be no more than some individual efforts by certain manufacturers or private companies to designate the uses of their equipment when keeping things separated is necessary. The only color-coding I know of that standardizes chemical properties is with respect to codes on placards required on storage facilities where chemicals are kept. Fire departments rely on these colors and letter codes to determine immediately, upon arrival at a facility that may be on fire or have some other emergency, that chemicals are there and that certain safety equipment is needed prior to entry. These codes indicate things such as respiratory hazard, explosion hazard, fire hazard, etc.
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Dec 29, 2011 - Schools and Pesticides
QUESTION:
I was told that there are certain laws to follow when it comes to treating a school that is public or receives govenment assistance or payment. Yet, if it's Private then just follow the guidelines on the label because it's different from a public or government assisted school's laws. Does this make sense? I just turned down a good job that came up because I wasn't sure if the laws for public versus government assisted schools were different than for private schools. Are they? Thanks for your answer and advice.
ANSWER:
This is a very important question, but a single answer is not going to be appropriate for all states, and it is important for you to investigate the exact regulations in place in your state. You can begin on PestWeb by going into our "Business Tools" tab and selecting "IPM In Schools". You the can select your state and find links to the specific regulations and forms for your state. Florida, where you are, is very active through the Univ. of Florida in producing many tools and forms on this subject, and they do have regulations pertaining to pesticide use in schools, as does nearly every other state.
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I was told that there are certain laws to follow when it comes to treating a school that is public or receives govenment assistance or payment. Yet, if it's Private then just follow the guidelines on the label because it's different from a public or government assisted school's laws. Does this make sense? I just turned down a good job that came up because I wasn't sure if the laws for public versus government assisted schools were different than for private schools. Are they? Thanks for your answer and advice.
ANSWER:
This is a very important question, but a single answer is not going to be appropriate for all states, and it is important for you to investigate the exact regulations in place in your state. You can begin on PestWeb by going into our "Business Tools" tab and selecting "IPM In Schools". You the can select your state and find links to the specific regulations and forms for your state. Florida, where you are, is very active through the Univ. of Florida in producing many tools and forms on this subject, and they do have regulations pertaining to pesticide use in schools, as does nearly every other state.
In general the purpose behind regulating / restricting pesticide use in schools is to reduce the exposure young children have to toxic substances. It is believed that their developing brains and other organs are more susceptible to exposure to toxins, and yet this must be balanced with the need to prevent their exposure to public health pests as well. Thus, nearly all states mandate that each school have a written IPM program in place so that a total reliance on pesticides is avoided. I think this is a good idea. Ultimately the states are not going to distinguish between public versus private schools, and in many states already include private schools or private day care facilities in their School Pesticide Use regulations. Obviously if these laws are in place to protect children it should not matter if that child does not attend a public school, but I suspect that initially it is easier to regulate government institutions. If we carry this to the obvious extreme, do these regulations have the right to impose themselves on home-schooled children and the private homes where they are being taught?
So, I will dance around this issue a little bit but invite you to go to the links provided on PestWeb and dig into your own state's regulations. This actually is a fabulous opportunity for our industry to step up and show its professionalism. In many cases it removes the ability for the janitorial staff at a school to buy pesticides at the local hardware store and spray them themselves. It invites LICENSED applicators in to help schools handle this delicate situation. Your time is money, and IPM can take more time but in the long run be more effective with minimized use of pesticides, and you have the opportunity to increase revenue at these accounts.
A direct answer to your question of whether private schools are viewed as outside of regulations pertaining to public schools is that old expression - it all depends - and it depends on your state. For example, in California where very specific laws on school pesticide use are in effect the current law specifically exempts private school facilities, but I have no doubt that this issue is still rolling around in the minds of our politicians.
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