PEST PROSpectives

Concerned About Chemicals in Pest Control? Listen to This

• Pest Pros of Michigan

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Curious about the safety of pest control chemicals around your family and pets? You're not alone. This eye-opening episode of PEST PROSpectives with Associate Certified Entomologist Amber Byars tackles the most common questions and misconceptions about chemical safety in professional pest management.

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Pest Pros of Michigan

PEST PROSpectives is a Livemic Communications production.

Richard Piet:

I'm Richard Piet. Welcome PEST PROSpectives. It's our pest control conversation and podcast with the Pest Pros of Michigan, Pest Prospectives, P-R-O-spectives, All right, so look for that when you find podcasts, and we ask you to subscribe. Today. Amber Byars is back with us associate certified entomologist and safety and how safe it is in pest control when chemicals are being used, Amber, welcome back. Hey, Richard man, this is probably something you get asked regularly, isn't it? People are concerned about this, of course.

Amber Byars:

Yeah, pretty regularly we get asked about well, how safe is this product, how safe is this application, how safe are your services, which is a word we don't really like to use in our vocabulary safe, because there's always so many factors that play into what could make it unsafe. So the truth is, behind chemicals or insecticides, there's special ways to use them. So that's kind of what we go into with our clients, kind of what we go into with our clients.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, I think there's probably in a layman's mind like me, like mine the notion that yeah, we know chemicals are being used and maybe we, you know, in the back of our minds or somewhere, maybe in the front, we're saying boy, is that okay? And we're trying to understand that.

Amber Byars:

So what makes it a chemical. Well, so when we're talking about chemicals being safe, at least not all chemicals are considered dangerous. For example, water could be considered a chemical. That's not dangerous, you know. So it all depends on how you're using it and how you're applying it. And one thing to know about the chemicals that we use is there's so much research and development that goes into the use and the making of the product. We use a distributor, basf, and they are leading in the industry for product development. They spend $5 million a day on research of these products. So that alone tells you that these professional products are highly tested and researched on to make sure they know LD50s, how they should be used in the environment, how they break down over time, symptoms in people, symptoms in animals. So they are tested, they're measured and they're used with precision.

Richard Piet:

That is so interesting because I think of BASF as a cassette tape maker. Oh, if you go back far enough, I guess you'll remember that too.

Amber Byars:

Sometimes they're I watched VHS tapes, but cassette tapes you're talking like that for music right, yeah well, you're right For music or TV stories, or.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, you're right, though they did videotapes too. So, yeah, I suppose that was a part of the chemical business too creating those tapes Interesting. Yeah, these days this is part of their focus and your point is well taken. They are certainly concerned clearly they put their money where their mouth is, I guess with the notion of safety and I think, right, there's standards they are looking for. These have to meet these standards, right.

Amber Byars:

Yeah, absolutely. And another thing to keep in mind is that these insecticides that we use are designed for insects or rodents, not for humans or pets. So when there is a concern, when all these concerns are valid, it's something that I would be thinking about too, as a consumer, is what's going to happen once you treat to my pets or my family? Right? It's 100% valid. So we have to look at all those factors too.

Richard Piet:

So how do you look at it in terms of protecting the people who might be around the areas, traversing the areas where pest control chemicals have been used?

Amber Byars:

Well, one thing is and this goes back to like the safety protocols of using an insecticide One thing to know about pesticide application is the label is the law. That's what we teach our staff, that's what we teach our technicians, that's what we. We abide by that like no other. So the label is the law, everything that's on that label, the directions of use, the ppe requirements, the environmental conditions, part of the label. We pay attention to all those things because if you veer away from that, you're technically breaking the law and it could be a federal offense. So anybody that is certified and also in a commercial business, you have to be certified through the state in order to apply these products or these chemicals, and so anybody that's a certified applicator must follow the label. Even a consumer, even a client of mine who goes to the store and is going to buy a product off of the shelf, they should be following the label. It's very important because overuse happens, accidental poisonings happen, and that's if you're following the label. None of that is going to happen.

Richard Piet:

Okay, so knowledge is power, and I get it. Who likes to try to read that fine print? And I think some of those things. If you buy them at the store, they have that multi-page thing. When you unstick it, it's like this long thing and you need a magnifying glass, all of that. The point is, you know about this stuff and that is a requirement of someone in your position, someone who's coming to your property, home, business, whatever it might be, and they're going to make use of these. You've been well acquainted and trained as to the proper use.

Amber Byars:

Absolutely yeah. It tells you what's the active ingredient. It tells you what are the target pests. Where am I allowed to put this product? What are the restrictions as far as weather goes? Because weather is a huge factor too, and that plays into the safety of the family, the pets and the environment.

Richard Piet:

I'm making a note because you said weather. That makes me think of a future episode. How does weather affect these things? What are some of the misconceptions or myths associated with? Wrote this one down is more spray right More?

Amber Byars:

spray equals better control. More spray equals you're going to get rid of my problem. Just come spray again. Come spray again. That's one of the biggest myths because we know especially being an IPM-based company, we know that there are so many other factors that play into. Why are the pests there? And sometimes the chemical use is just a tiny little piece of the puzzle.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, ipm integrated pest management. We've done an episode on that, so look for it in the pest perspectives library of episodes. Yeah Well, this makes sense, right? It sort of starts with ourselves If we're hungry, we eat. If we're still hungry, we eat more. So that must be the solution for everything. Right, it's not working. We need more, right? Right, but that's not necessarily true.

Amber Byars:

It's not, and especially, you know, when we're dealing with certain species of insects, the pesticides have sometimes nothing to do with the infestation at all. There's environmental conditions that play into why certain pests are on the property, and if you alter the environmental conditions without any pesticide use, you could get rid of the pests.

Richard Piet:

Wow. So what you're also saying is sometimes chemicals are not needed, exactly.

Amber Byars:

Yep, and we do our best to explain this to people and we have high ethics and we want to solve people's problems, and sometimes we know that that has nothing to do with a treatment. It's more about education, and so at the end of the day, we will do what's best for the client and what is going to bring them a solution and peace of mind, and sometimes, absolutely, chemicals are included in that.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, yeah, all right. Any other myths or misconceptions?

Amber Byars:

Yes, their results aren't quick enough, so the treatment didn't work, which is completely false. Sometimes and this has all to do with the expectations being set up front very clearly with your client, educating them to be very slow, like a slow decline, in order to have a successful treatment If you're getting rid of things very quickly in a colony type of insect like an ant or a stinging insect, sometimes that's not going to work.

Richard Piet:

That is really something, because you know, sometimes if we have a couple of bees around or something, or wasps, we might have a can of something. We spray it, boom, they die. We have this expectation that it happens fast and sometimes that's not the best approach.

Amber Byars:

And you know, more times than not, when I get called to a stinging insect issue and the client has done something like a raid like that, it has made our jobs 10 times harder. And it's no fault of theirs, like they were just doing what they could at the time to give themselves some relief. But especially when you see wasps going in and out of an entry point on a structure like a window frame or part of the siding or something, and they're going in and out but you don't see a nest, physically they are impacted in that structure and if you're just knocking down some of the workers, all you're doing is killing a part of the nest, but the nest is still thriving because the queen is alive. So we get on site, most of the workers are dead and then we have to kind of bumble our way through. Bumble our way through to try to figure out where's the nesting site and how can we mitigate this? Because they start seeing wasps inside because that product that they used was not the right product to use for that situation.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, I get that. I had a side of a house with bees under the siding. I knew they were in there because the workers, like you say, were going in and out. So you just presume there's a little city in there and you're not getting to all of it with your can.

Amber Byars:

No, you're just doing a little bit of damage, one spray at a time, you know? Yeah, the queen's still in there making her brood, you know.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, okay. Well, those are all really interesting points and, as you say, this is part of what you do is to help people understand what they should expect to happen as the treatments take place and the results begin to take effect. So how can a person who calls upon you be of assistance when you're helping them with this problem, and it may involve chemicals. What can we do?

Amber Byars:

One thing that's important is for them to be as informative to us as they can. What's the property look like? Are there kids on the property? Are there pets on the property? Are there any sensitive people on the property? Anybody that has a sickness, cancer, is pregnant? Anything that might make them more sensitive to pesticide applications? Do they have sensitive pets? Koi ponds are very vulnerable to pesticide use. Vegetable gardens are they growing edible plants on the property that we should know about? The last thing we want to do is cause any harm to anybody involved, so giving us all the information up front is very helpful.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, is there a specific thing that you can call to mind that you would like to know that people generally don't think to tell you?

Amber Byars:

A couple of those things, just environmental factors. They're like is there water on the property? Do they have fish in the pond? Do they have kids and pets? Our staff here, though, are in our office, are so good at asking those questions up front to kind of pick people's brains, because, again, a lot of the clients that call don't really think to tell us that because they don't know what that means, you know. So our office staff is trained to get that information.

Amber Byars:

Something else that clients can do is conducive condition control on their property, maintaining overgrown vegetation, maintaining moisture issues, removing tree-to-home contact, basically clearing up areas that might cause pest issues. Ongoing Partnering with our clients is so important because we've become kind of like a team once we start servicing, because it's not all on us, it's definitely not all on them. We want to work together because a lot of the things fall back onto them that are outside of our control Proper door maintenance, proper window maintenance. Are you guys keeping the doors and windows open and allowing these pests to get in? Mice to get in? Those are out of control. That's on the client for sure.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, all right. So I would imagine too that if, at any time, someone has concerns or questions about the use of chemicals, all they have to do is ask you.

Amber Byars:

Yeah, absolutely, and we do. We get tons of questions every day.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, I'll bet you do and you know the answers. That's the point. I'll bet you do and you know the answers. That's the point and that's the idea behind having the pest pros come and offer their professional input on whatever your pest control situation may be. These are the kinds of subjects we talk about on PEST PROSpectives, and there are a whole bunch more of these episodes. Just type it in Pest Prospectives and you will find our episodes. Invite you to subscribe as well, and, of course, the link to the website the Pest Pros of Michigan is in the show notes and the episodes are there too. This is good information, Amber. Thanks for the update.

Amber Byars:

Absolutely, thank you.