The world is definitely going green. "Green" is your color of ecological concern, the impetus which compels cutting-edge technology, the buzz word of this socially conscious. Concern for the environment and man's impact on it's bringing a slew of new services and products to market, and pest control is no exception. Environmentally-friendly pest control products and services are growing in popularity, especially in the commercial industry. Even eco-savvy residential individuals are asking about natural alternatives to traditional pesticides, but their ardor usually stinks when confronted with the 10% to 20% cost differential and lengthier treatment intervals, sometimes a couple weeks.

The raising of America's environmental awareness, along with increasingly strict national regulations regulating conventional chemical dyes, seems to be shifting the pest control industry's focus on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques. Of 378 pest control businesses surveyed in 2008 by Pest Control Technology magazine, two thirds said they offered IPM services of some type.

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

Particularly popular with both schools and assisted living facilities charged with guarding the health and fitness of the world's youngest and oldest citizens, those at greatest risk from poisonous chemicals, IPM is catching the attention of hotels, office buildings, apartment complexes and other industrial enterprises, in addition to eco-conscious residential clients. Founded in Pest Control Shefford by ecological concerns and health hazard anxieties, fascination with IPM is attracting a range of new environmentally-friendly pest management services and products -- both high- and low-tech -- to market.

"most likely the best product out there's really a door sweep," confided Tom Green, president of the Integrated Pest Management Institute of North America, a nonprofit firm that permeates green exterminating businesses. In an Associated Press interview published on MSNBC online last April,'' Green clarified,"A mouse could squeeze through a hole the size of a pen diameter. So if you have secured a quarter-inch gap under your door, as far as a mouse is concerned, there isn't any door there whatsoever." Cock Roaches can slither through a one-eighth inch crevice.

IPM is"an improved way to pest control for the health of the house, the surroundings and the family," explained Cindy Mannes, spokeswoman for the National Pest Management Association, the 6.3 billion pest control industry's own trade association, in exactly the exact same Associated Press story. But because IPM is still a relatively new addition to this pest control toolbox, Mannes cautioned that there is very little industry consensus on the definition of green services.

IPM prefers mechanical, physical and cultural methods to control pests, but might use bio-pesticides produced from naturally occurring materials such as animals, plants, bacteria and certain minerals.


The others, like trained dogs who sniff out bed pests, look unnaturally lowtech, but apply innovative methods to reach results. As an instance, farmers have used dogs' sensitive noses to sniff out problem pests for years and years; nevertheless training dogs to sniff out explosives and drugs is a relatively recent progress.

Still another fresh pest control technique is contraception. After San Francisco was threatened with mosquitoes carrying potentially deadly West Nile Virus, bike messengers were hired to cruise the city and drop packets of biological insecticide in to the town's 20,000 storm drains. Akind of birth control for mosquitoes, the newest method has been considered safer than airborne spraying with the compound pyrethrum, the typical mosquito abatement procedure, as shown by a recent report published on the National Public Radio site.

Of course there are efforts to build a better mousetrap. The advanced Track & Trap system brings rats or rodents to some food station dusted with powder. Rodents leave a blacklight-visible course which allows pest control pros to secure entrance avenues. Coming soon, NightWatch uses pheromone research to lure and trap bed bugs. Back in Englanda sonic apparatus designed to repel rodents and rats is being analyzed, and the aptly named Rat Zapper is supposed to provide a deadly jolt using just two AA batteries.

With this influx of fresh environmentally friendly products rides a posse of regulations. Even the EPA's 2004 banning of the compound diazinon for household use a few years ago removed a potent ant-killer from the homeowner's pest control toolbox. Similarly, 2008 EPA regulations prohibiting the sale of small amounts of effective rodenticides, unless sold inside a specific trap, has eliminated rodent-killing chemicals from the shelves of hardware and diy stores, limiting the homeowner's capacity to secure his property and family from such disease-carrying insects.

Acting for the public good, the authorities pesticide-control actions are particularly aimed at protecting children. According to a May 20, 2008 report on CNN on the web, a study conducted by the American Association of Poison Control Centers suggested that rat poison was in charge of nearly 60,000 poisonings between 2001 and 2003, 250 of these leading to serious injuries or death. National Wildlife Service testing in California found rodenticide deposit in most creature analyzed.

Consumers are embracing the notion of natural pest control and environmentally friendly, cutting-edge pest control products and techniques. Availability and government regulations are increasingly limiting consumers' self-treatment alternatives, forcing them to turn to pest control companies to get relief out of pest invasions. While this has established a viable choice for commercial clients, few residential clients seem willing to pay for higher costs for newer, more laborintensive green pest control products and fewer are willing to wait the additional week or two it could take these items to do the job. It is taking leadership efforts for pest control companies to educate consumers in the long term benefits of green and natural pest control treatments.

Even though the cold, hard truth is that when folks have a pest problem, they are interested gone and so they want it gone today! If rats or rodents come in their property destroying their property and endangering their family disease, if termites or carpenter ants are eating their home equity, if roaches are invading their own kitchen or if they are sharing their bed with bed bugs, even consumer interest in ecological friendliness plummets. If folks call a pest control business, the bottom line is that they need the fleas dead! Now! Pest control firms have been standing up against the tide of consumer requirement for prompt eradication by enhancing their natural and green pest control product offerings. These new all-natural products take the most responsible long term approach to pest control; one which protects our environment, children, and also our own wellness. Sometimes it's alone moving against the tide of popular demand, but authentic leadership, at the pest control business, means embracing these fresh natural technologies when they aren't popular with the user - nonetheless.