All You Need to Know About Chemical Pest Control

By Amit Mahajan Chakraborty 



Pest control means management of a species creating problems for human beings directly or indirectly, since it is considered to be harmful to an individual`s health, the economy or the ecology. Pest management is at least as old as agriculture as it was necessary to keep crops free from unwanted animals and insects.



Chemical control dates back 4500 years, with the Sumerians using Sulphur compounds as insecticides. In India the Rig Veda, which is about 4000 years old mentions the use of poisonous plants for pest control. But chemical management became widespread with industrialization and mechanization of agriculture in 18th and 19th century, and the introduction of insecticides Pyrethrum and Derris Today chemical pest control is the dominant type of pest control. But its aftereffects have led people to think about alternatives in the form of traditional and biological pest control.



The chemical agents include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides.



Long lasting synthetic compounds which affect the nervous system of insects on contact are applied as insecticides. Examples of most effective insecticides are the chlorinated hydrocarbons DDT, Chlordane and Toxaphene, even though DDT has been banned. Organophosphate insecticides include Malathiom, Parathion and Dimethoate. 2, 4- dichlorophenoxyacetic acid is the most effective herbicide, used to kill broad leaved weeds.



The disadvantage of using pesticides is that though they are valuable for agriculture, they can cause serious harm. Hence more and more people are shifting to organic and biological pest control measures. I would recommend you to find more lots of information about the pest control methods and safety measures before you start something. This information can be found through many sources. There are many directories which provide free of cost information about pest control and other valuable topics. Enough research can help you a lot in making the right choice. You should always be careful with chemical methods of pest control because they are very useful but can cause lot of problems.

Termite Fumigation Poison Gas Effectiveness

Whole structure poison gas fumigation performed for complete termite eradication is a complex procedure. There are a number of critical steps that must be completely followed, in order to obtain a successful treatment. Commercial fumigators' know the detailed information needed for an effective treatment application to occur.



Most fumigation firms hire experienced, and highly educated, knowledgeable and licensed professionals. However; far too often, these professionals are forced to supervise and delegate the technically skilled responsibilities to uneducated laborers, who end up actually performing many of the important protocol treatment procedures. This is equivalent to, a hospital hiring an apprentice construction laborer to assist in administering anesthesia to patients during surgical operations. Obviously some patients will never wake up, while others will endure unwanted surgery pain. In both instances, the anesthesia administration fails.



Over application of poison gas during fumigation, does indeed effectively kill all the termites, but it also highly increases the risk of poisoning the occupants within days of re-entering the structure treated. Keep in mind, there is no antidote for gas poisoning and it often results in death. Likewise, if the amount of fumigate used is less than the amount labeled as needed, the treatment will not be 100% effective. In most cases, fumigation clients will never know if their fumigation was successful in eradicating the termites effectively, because the termites not killed, stop feeding on wood and instead feed on the carcasses of the dead. The period of carcass consumption can take months, and during that time, there is no longer any wood fecal matter being excreted at areas of prior infestation to indicate an active infestation. Upon completion of the colony carcass consumption, a wood diet will resume and the colony will thrive to reestablish itself.



The following are detailed procedures needed to assure effective termite fumigation. All of these procedures should be strictly adhered to, by an accredited fumigation professional to lessen the risk of treatment failure.



1. Customer should be educated about the fumigation process and all the limitations involved.



2. Properly advise customer and tenant, of all food and non food fumigation preparations.



3. Acquire an accurate cubic footage calculation of the area to be fumigated.



4. Conduct a full assessment of any items that may impact the fumigation.



5. Analyze all the factors that may hinder an effective treatment process.



6. Provide customer written disclosure of anticipated and unfavorable damages that may occur.



7. Offer the customer options to reduce unavoidable potential damages.



8. Employ workers who display strict fumigation treatment disciplines and honest work ethics.



9. Prepare applicable and favorable ground conditions around the structure.



10. Achieve a secure physical attachment of all tarp to maintain a controlled environment.



11. Establish an effective seal at ground level of the fumigation tarp to prevent gas escape.



12. Have a fumigation professional present during all stages of tarp, gas release and aeration.



13. Introduce the correct calculated measured amount of poison gas into the tarp and sealed structure.



14. Assure on site professional's proper use of gas level monitoring equipment.



15. Attain aeration to allow, safe re-occupancy by using a proper functioning gas analyzer.



16. Provide occupant a 24 hour contact phone number during and after job completion.



Whole structure fumigation for termite, has a high level of efficacy when correctly applied. Dry wood termite will die in about 3 days, when exposed to proper poison gas levels. If no evidence of termite becomes visually apparent for a 16 month period after the fumigation, then one can safely assume that the fumigation was effective.



Author is a retired structural pest engineer expert.



During his 30 years work in the industry he has just about seen and done it all.



Karl is also an active environmental advocate for the increased use of alternative no poison gas, no-chemical safe green treatment methods.