The world is going green. "Green" could be your color of ecological dilemma, the impetus that pushes cutting edge technology, the buzzword of this conscious. Concern for the natural environment and man's impact on it's bringing a slew of new services and products to marketpest control is no exception. Environmentally-friendly pest control providers are growing in popularity, especially in the industrial sector. Even eco-savvy residential consumers are requesting about natural alternatives to traditional pesticides, but their ardor usually cools when confronted by the 10% to 20% cost differential and longer treatment times, some times a few weeks.

The increasing of America's environmental awareness, coupled with increasingly stringent national regulations regulating conventional chemical pesticides, appears to be shifting the pest control industry's attention on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods. IPM is regarded as just safer for your environment, yet safer for people, pets and secondary scavengers such as owls. Of 378 pest control businesses surveyed in 2008 from Pest Control Technology magazine, two thirds said that they offered IPM professional services of some kind.


Rather than jelqing pest internet sites with a noxious cocktail of insecticides designed to kill,'' IPM is targeted on environmentally-friendly prevention methods developed to maintain insects out. While low- or no-toxicity products might also be used to encourage pests to package their bags, control and elimination efforts revolve around finding and eliminating the root of infestation: entry points, attractants, harborage and food.

Particularly popular with both schools and nursing homes charged with guarding the wellbeing of the world's youngest and oldest citizens, those at highest risk from hazardous chemicals, IPM is grabbing the interest of hotels, office buildings, apartment complexes and other commercial enterprises, as well as low-income residential customers. Founded in equivalent portions by environmental concerns and health hazard anxieties, curiosity about IPM is bringing a lot of fresh environmentally-friendly pest control products -- both high- and - lowtech -- to promote.

In an Associated Press interview posted on MSNBC on the past April, Green explained,"A mouse can squeeze through a hole the size of a pen diameter. Therefore, in the event that you have received a quarter-inch gap under your door, as much as being a mouse is more concerned, there isn't any door there whatsoever." Cock Roaches can slither through a one eighth inch crevice.

IPM has been"a better approach to pest control to the wellness of your home, the environment and the household," said Cindy Mannes, spokeswoman for the National Pest Management Association, the 6.3 billion pest control industry's own trade association, in the exact same Associated Press story. But because IPM is still a rather recent addition into the pest control toolbox, Mannes cautioned that there is not much industry consensus on the definition of services that are green.

In Order to produce industry standards for IPM providers and providers, the Integrated Pest Management Institute of North America created the Green Shield Certified (GSC) software. Identifying pest control products and businesses that eschew conventional pesticides in support of environmentally-friendly control methods, GSC is backed by the EPA, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and HUD. IPM favors mechanical, cultural and physical methods to control insects, but may use bio-pesticides produced from naturally-occurring materials like animals, plants, bacteria and certain minerals.

Some are ultra high tech like the quick freeze Cryonite process for eliminating bed bugs. The others, like trained dogs that sniff out bed bugs, seem unnaturally lowtech, but employ state-of-the-art techniques to reach benefits.

Another new pest control procedure is contraception. When bay area was jeopardized by mosquitoes carrying potentially lethal West Nile Virus, bike messengers were hired to cruise the city and drop packets of biological insecticide into the city's 20,000 storm drains. Akind of birth control for mosquitoes, the newest method has been considered safer compared to aerial spraying with the chemical pyrethrum, the normal mosquito abatement procedure, as per a recent report published on the National Public Radio site.

Of course , there are efforts to construct a better mousetrap. The innovative Track & Trap system brings rats or rodents to some food channel dusted with fluorescent powder. Rodents leave a blacklight-visible trail which allows pest control pros to secure entry avenues. Coming soon, NightWatch uses pheromone research to lure and trap bed bugs. In Englanda sonic device made to repel rats and squirrels is being analyzed, as well as the aptly named Rat Zapper is purported to provide a deadly shock using two AA batteries.

With this influx of new environmentally-friendly services and products rides a posse of federal regulations. Even the EPA's 2004 banning of the chemical diazinon for household usage a couple of years ago removed a potent ant-killer from the homeowner's insect control toolbox. Similarly, 2008 EPA regulations forbidding the selling of small quantities of effective rodenticides, unless sold inside an enclosed snare, has stripped 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 disease-carrying pests.

Acting for the public well, the authorities pesticide-control actions are especially aimed at protecting kids. According to a May 20, 2008 report CNN online, a report conducted by the American Association of Poison Control Centers signaled that the rat poison had been in charge of almost 60,000 poisonings between 2001 and 2003, 250 of these resulting in serious injuries or death. National Wildlife Service examining in California found rodenticide residue in every creature analyzed.

Consumers are embracing the idea of natural pest control and environmentally-friendly, cutting off pest management products and techniques. Availability and government regulations are increasingly limiting consumers' self-treatment alternatives, forcing them to turn into pest control companies to get rest in pest invasions. While this has established a viable alternative for commercial customers, few residential customers seem willing to pay for higher charges for newer, more labor intensive green pest control products and fewer are prepared to wait the extra week or 2 it might take these products to do the job. It's taking leadership efforts on the part of pest control companies to teach consumers in the long-term advantages of green and natural pest treatments.

Although the cold, hard reality is that when people have a problem with pests , they want it gone and they want it gone today! If rats or rodents come in their residence destroying their property and threatening their family together with disease, if termites or carpenter ants are eating away their home equity, even if roaches are threatening their kitchen or if they are sharing their bed with bed bugs, consumer interest in environmental surroundings plummets. If people call a pest control company, the main point is they desire the bugs dead! Now! Pest control firms are standing facing the tide of consumer requirement for prompt eradication by enhancing their green and natural pest control product offers. These fresh all-natural products require the responsible long-term approach to pest control; one which protects the environment, children, and also our very own wellness. Sometimes it is alone moving from the tide of popular demand, but authentic leadership, at the pest control business, means embracing these new natural technologies even when they aren't popular with all the user - nonetheless.