Pesticides in Household, Structural and Residential Pest Management

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Chapter 1

The Chemistry of Household, Structural and Residential Insect Management Chris J. Peterson1 and Dan Stout, II2 1

USDA-Forest Service, Insects, Diseases and Invasive Plants Unit, 201 Lincoln Green, Starkville, MS 39759 2 US Environmental Protection Agency, Human Exposure and Atmospheric Science Division, 109 T.W Alexander Dr., Durham, NC 27711 Most, but not all, of the active ingredients used to control household and structural insect pests were developed for agricultural uses before entering the household and structural market. Therefore we are using compounds in situations for which they were not originally developed. Exceptions to this are the termite, cockroach and ant baits, such as those containing hexaflumuron, noviflumuron, sulfluramid or hydramethylnon. Most other products, however, are formulations of agricultural products or derivatives of products originally developed for agriculture. The usual Rogue’s Gallery of household and structural insect pests are rarely, if ever, pests in agricultural settings. Termites are not pests of living vegetation in the United States, nor are mosquitoes, fleas, cockroaches or bedbugs. Other than the occasional and incidental invader or garden pest, agricultural pests are largely unknown to the homeowner. Pantry pests such as the Indian meal moth and the red flour beetle, however, are pests in agricultural grain storage and pests of pets can also occur in livestock. Household, structural and residential insect pest management touches all of our lives. Pesticides, specifically insecticides, are used in virtually every environment we encounter in our daily activities. In our workplaces, from the farm to the business office, in schools and daycares, as well as in our homes, insecticides are applied to control peridomestic insect pests. Information regarding the use of insecticides in our living environment is incomplete, but surveys suggest that about 75% of American households used pesticides in the past year (1). Depending on age, gender, work and family composition, people typically spend about 90% of their day in indoor locations (2). Pesticide use in © 2009 American Chemical Society Peterson and Stout; Pesticides in Household, Structural and Residential Pest Management ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2010.

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2 and around our daily environments potentially places humans in intimate association with chemicals used to control structural pests. Human competition with insects for food, shelter and health has been an historic conflict. However, a schizm between our use of pesticides and our perception of ther risks has slowly evolved. Pesticides regulated by the state and federal government are approved for use and deemed safe and efficacious; however, society often negatively perceives their use to control insects, diseases and other pests as having high inherent risk to our health and the environment. In contrast there is an indirect acknowledgment of the need to control pests expressed by the ready availability of consumer-use products and the services of pest control professionals. The issues of perception, risk and necessity of control procedures might be best exemplified in the public housing arena. The negative effect of cohabitating with cockroaches is generally acknowledged due to the recognition of cockroach feces and chitin as an asthma trigger. High cockroach populations in public housing and the related health issues has resulted in a history of elevated pesticide usage. Of late, substantial state and federal resources have been expended to introduce intregrated pest managmemnt principals to reduce or eliminate pesticide use in public housing. Grassroots or community-based efforts, inspired by the desire to transition away from the more conventional spray approach to reduce pesticide exposure, have further impacted pesticide use in public housing. In contrast, prophylactic treatments in and around private dwellings to control a wide variety of insect pests continue, even when there is no evidence of pest infestation. In fact, an estimated 78 million U.S. households (3) spent nearly 1.3 billion dollars to purchase insecticides and applied 888 million pounds of active ingredient (1). The development of new household and structural insect management products continues apace. It is unlikely that any one product or process will be the “silver bullet” of household and structural pest control. What will in reality happen is that pest management professionals and homeowners will have an ever-larger kit of management tools available to them, and each tool is highly effective in its designed capacity. Seeing, as we did above, that the home and garden insect control market is as potentially lucrative as the agricultural market, it is in the interests of manufacturers to continue to develop new products that can meet changing market demands and the regulatory environment. With this in mind, the safety and efficacy of these products in household, structural and residential situations will continually need to be evaluated and merged with ongoing societal concerns at both the regulatory and community levels. The ACS Symposium Series has previously produced an excellent title, although now fifteen years old, related to this subject (4). This book continues the interest by focusing on the development of new household and structural insect management products. This volume examines several phases of the process of discovering, developing, using and monitoring for the insect management tools used in and around the home. Several chapters address pesticide efficacy in controlling different species of termites. Here chapters discuss the discovery of new active ingredients (including natural products), the evaluation of efficacy, and issues relating to liquid formulations and baits are discussed, as are biological and environmental factors that affect efficacy and

Peterson and Stout; Pesticides in Household, Structural and Residential Pest Management ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2010.

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longevity. A chapter focuses on insecticide mode of action as it relates to a novel compound and its implications for controlling household pests. Reflective of ongoing interests in residential integrated pest management, a chapter is dedicated to exploring the least-toxic approaches for controlling insect pests. Two chapters examine potential human exposure associated with insecticidal control of ectoparasites on companion animals, and their transfer to hands during contact, and the potential role of dogs in transporting pesticide residues into homes. The intent of this book is to present a broad spectrum of topics associated with residential control and continue to build on the topic through the ACS Symposium Series.

References 1. Kiely,T.; Donaldson, D.; Grube, A. Pesticide Industry Sales and Usage, 2000 and 2001 market Estimates. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. EPA-733-R-04-001, 2004; 48 pp. 2. Klepsis N. E.; Nelson W. C., Ott W. R.; Robinson J. P.; Tsang A. M.; Switzer P.; Behar J. V.; Hern S. C.; Engelmann W. H. The National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS): a resource for assessing exposure to environmental pollutants. J. Expo. Anal. Environ. Epidmiol. 2001, 11, 231–252. 3. U.S. EPA. Pesticides industry sales and usage report. 1998 and 1999 market estimates. Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, Washington, DC: USA, 2002. 4. Racke, K. D.; Leslie, A. R., Eds. Pesticides in Urban Environments; ACS Symposium Series 522. American Chemical Society, Washington DC, 1993; pp. 282–295.

Peterson and Stout; Pesticides in Household, Structural and Residential Pest Management ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2010.

Pesticides in Household, Structural and Residential Pest Management

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