The entire world is definitely going green. "Green" could be your color of environmental concern, the impetus that compels cuttingedge technology, the buzz word of this conscious. Concern for the environment and man's impact on it is bringing a slew of new services and products to promote pest control is no exception. Environmentally friendly pest control companies are growing in popularity, especially in the commercial sector. Even eco-savvy residential individuals are asking about natural alternatives to pesticides that are traditional, but their ardor usually stinks when faced by the 10 percent to 20% cost differential and lengthier treatment times, some times a few weeks.

The increasing of America's environmental consciousness, in conjunction with increasingly strict federal regulations governing conventional chemical dyes, seems to be shifting the pest control industry's attention on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods. IPM is regarded as only safer to your environment, yet safer for people, pets and secondary scavengers such as owls. Of 378 pest management businesses surveyed in 2008 from Pest Control Technology magazine, also two-thirds said they offered IPM services of some type.

Instead of lacing pest sites with a noxious cocktail of insecticides intended to kill, IPM is targeted on environmentally-friendly prevention methods developed to keep insects out. While low- or no-toxicity services and products may also be utilised to support pests to package their bags, control and removal efforts revolve around finding and eliminating the source of infestation: entrance points, attractants, harborage and food.

Notably popular with schools and assisted living facilities charged with guarding the health and fitness of the world's youngest and oldest citizens, people at highest risk from poisonous chemicals, IPM is catching the attention of hotels, office buildings, apartment complexes and other industrial businesses, as well as eco-conscious residential clients. Driven in equal portions by environmental concerns and health hazard anxieties, interest in IPM is bringing a plethora of new environmentally-friendly pest control products -- both high- and low-tech -- to market.

In an Associated Press interview published on MSNBC online last April, Green explained,"A mouse could squeeze through a hole the size of a pen diameter. Therefore, in the event that you have obtained a quarter-inch gap underneath your doorway, so much as being a mouse is concerned, there isn't any door there whatsoever." Cockroaches can slither through a one-eighth inch crevice.

IPM has been"a better way to pest control for the wellness of the home, the surroundings and the family," said Cindy Mannes, spokeswoman for the National Pest Management Association, the $6.3 billion pest control industry's own trade association, in exactly the same Associated Press story. However, because IPM has been a rather new addition into this pest control arsenal, Mannes cautioned that there is minimal industry consensus on the definition of services that are green.


In an effort to produce industry standards for IPM providers and suppliers, the Integrated Pest Management Institute of United States created the Green Shield Certified (GSC) software. IPM prefers mechanical, physical and cultural techniques to control insects, but may use bio-pesticides derived from naturally-occurring materials like animals, bacteria, plants and certain minerals.

Toxic chemical sprays are giving way to new, sometimes unconventional, means of pests. Some are ultra high tech such as the quick freeze Cryonite process for eliminating bed bugs. Others, like trained dogs who sniff out bed bugs, seem unnaturally low tech, but employ innovative procedures to achieve effects. Utilizing those very same approaches to teach dogs to sniff out termites and bed bugs will be considered cuttingedge.

Yet another brand new pest control technique is birth control. When bay area was threatened with mosquitoes carrying potentially life threatening West Nile Virus, bicycle messengers were hired to flee the town and drop packets of biological insecticide in to the city's 20,000 storm drains. Akind of birth control for mosquitoes, the new method was considered safer than aerial spraying with the compound pyrethrum, the normal mosquito abatement procedure, as shown by a recent report published within the National Public Radio website.

Of course there are efforts underway to construct a better mouse trap. The advanced Track & Trap system attracts mice or rats to some food channel dusted with fluorescent powder. Rodents render a blacklight-visible course which allows pest control pros to secure entry avenues. Coming soon, night watch uses pheromone research to lure and trap bed bugs. Back in Englanda sonic apparatus made to repel rats and squirrels is being analyzed, as well as the aptly named Rat Zapper is supposed to deliver a deadly shock using only two AA batteries.

Alongside this influx of fresh environmentally-friendly products rides a posse of regulations. Even the EPA's 2004 banning of the chemical diazinon for household usage a few years ago removed a potent ant-killer from the homeowner's insect control toolbox. Similarly, 2008 EPA regulations prohibiting the selling of small quantities of effective rodenticides, unless sold inside an enclosed snare, has eliminated rodent-killing chemicals from the shelves of both hardware and home improvement stores, limiting the homeowner's ability to secure his family and property from these disease-carrying insects.

Acting for the public good, the authorities pesticide-control actions are particularly aimed at protecting kids. According to Pest Control Ware , 2008 report on CNN on the web, a report performed by the American Association of Poison Control Centers indicated that rat poison had been in charge of almost 60,000 poisonings between 2001 and 2003, 250 of these resulting in serious accidents 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 control products and processes. Availability and government regulations are increasingly limiting consumers' self-treatment choices, forcing them to show into professional pest control businesses for rest out of pest invasions. While this has established a viable alternative for commercial customers, few residential customers seem willing to pay higher charges for newer, more labor intensive green pest control products and fewer are prepared to wait the extra week or two it could take the products to do the job. It's taking leadership efforts for pest control businesses to educate consumers in the long-term benefits of green and natural pest control treatments.

Although the cold, hard truth is that when people have a problem with pests , they are interested gone and so they need it gone now! If rats or rodents are within their house destroying their property and threatening their family disease, if termites or carpenter ants are eating away their home equity, even in case roaches are invading their kitchen or if they're sharing their bed with bed bugs, consumer interest in ecological friendliness plummets. If folks call a pest control organization, the main point is that they need the pests dead! Now! Pest control firms are standing facing the wave of consumer requirement for immediate eradication by enhancing their natural and green pest control product supplies. These new organic products require the responsible long term strategy to pest control; one which protects the environment, children, and also our very own wellbeing. Sometimes it's alone moving against the wave of popular requirement, but true leadership, at the pest control industry, means embracing these new natural technologies even when they are not popular with the user - nonetheless.