Pest management
Pest management include several range of programs addressing human health, environmental and economic issues related to the management of pest populations through a variety of science based technologies.
[edit] Types of pest management
- Biological control is the deliberate use of natural enemies - predators, parasites, pathogens, and competitors to suppress and maintain populations of a target pest species. The benefits from the use of natural enemies accrue at no additional cost and is particularly desirable because the tactic is environmentally safe, energy self-sufficient, cost-effective and sustainable.
- For example: mosquitoes are often controlled by putting a kind of bacteria that infects and kills mosquito larvae, in local water sources. The treatment is safe to the ecology and water remains safe for humans to drink.
- Fumigation an insect control that provides ultimate results when practiced in a enclosed structure. The science of creating a fog by reducing the discharge solution droplet size to a VMD (volumetric mean diameter) of 4 to 7 is instrumental in the delivery of the insect fogging solution to all areas.
- Poisoned bait a common method for controlling rodent population, however is not as effective when there are other food sources around, such as garbage.
- Spraying poisons by using planes, hand held units, or trucks that carry the spraying equipment, is a common method of pest control.
- Eliminating breeding grounds like proper garbage collection and disposal, have far less of a problem with rats, cockroaches, mosquitoes, flies and other pests than those that don't.
[edit] Pesticides
- Main Article: Pesticide
A pesticide is any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest. A pesticide may be a chemical substance, biological agent (such as a virus or bacterium), antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest. Pests include insects, plant pathogens, weeds, molluscs, birds, mammals, fish, nematodes, and microbes that destroy property, spread disease or are a vector for disease or cause a nuisance.
American households use 80 million pounds of pesticides each year. The EPA found at least one pesticide in almost every water and fish sample from streams and in more than one-half of shallow wells sampled in agricultural and urban areas.
