Are PCOs Professionals Or Tradesmen?

On the other hand, tradesmen, such as electricians, plumbers, carpenters, auto mechanics — all of whom are dealing with inanimate objects — usually guarantee their services will resolve the problem.

While the pest control company’s advertisement or sales pitch may not always say so, the implication is their services will guarantee freedom from pests. Conversely, can you imagine a physician or veterinarian advertising a guarantee or warranty? What standing would this professional have with peers or with their professional organizations? Yet here we are, contracting to manage and control creatures within living systems in increasingly complex environments with no absolute certainty of what the outcome will be. We can only guess and use our best professional efforts.

But if we are professional, how can we truly talk of guarantees? Perhaps it is too much to expect from an industry that has advanced within only a century from being known as “ratcatchers” (read The Ratcatcher’s Child by Robert Snetsinger) then “exterminators,” and now to “pest control operators.”

But with the recent infusion into our industry of so many notables from the academic world, there is hope that after the turn of the century, “pest management professionals” will begin to be recognized by the public as true professionals.

Our scientific journals publish reports of new findings in the biology and control of pest species that often reveal Myth Conceptions that our industry has harbored for decades. This continual discovery of new information may help explain in part why we have so many problems controlling pests in our changing environments.

This lag in making changes is most obvious with termite control, which is now under fire by regulatory agencies and the media. Most PCOs are still treating structures in accordance with the Approved Reference Procedures (ARP) of the National Pest Control Association, which were written in the ’50s. ARP is also the cornerstone of the regulatory community’s mandate for treatment procedures on termiticide labels. The result is that in a typical termite treatment, massive quantities of toxicants are being applied to the entire perimeter, to walls and to soil below the slab. This is believed to prevent termites from invading the structure and to kill those trapped inside because they cannot get water.

Newer control systems use treated cellulose bait stations in the belief that an entire colony can be destroyed. Both systems have demonstrated success in controlling termites in the majority of applications but neither has proven to be a total answer. Controlling established infestations of subterranean termites in post-1960 construction may prove to be the greatest and most predictable challenge for termite control professionals.

Today, 50 years after ARP, the research community has told us that massive doses of termiticide applied along the foundation wall does not always leave a continuous barrier. Furthermore, an extended colony of several years’ standing can easily outlast the residual life of current termiticides. A new colony, if undetected and untreated early on, can develop into a huge megacolony numbering hundreds of thousands of termites. Loosely connected satellite colonies can also repopulate abandoned sites.

This capability of budding off from the parent colony is significant in buildings where sustained moisture is available above grade. Despite careful adherence to label instructions, the termite infestation will continue in many structures.

Furthermore, some of the new building practices, such as using insulation foam boards and stucco siding that pulls moisture from mulch and/or soil, contribute to the success of these “high-rise” infestations. Yet with all of these profound changes in our understanding of the behavior of pesticides in the soil, and of the behavior of subterranean termites in the soil and above-ground, we are still forced to follow the original cookie-cutter procedures mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency and enforced by state regulators.

I doubt if consumers would attempt their own treatments if they were aware of what a professional needs to do to keep termites in check. It involves the use of sophisticated tools, a scheduled monitoring program of bait stations and recognition of conditions conducive for termite colonies, and finally, the ability to spot-treat the soil at sites if and when they are infested.

The embarrassing policy about pest and termite control practices could have been avoided if the industry heeded the warnings of Bill Hawks of Wichita, Kan. This innovative pest control operator referred to the current cookie-cutter treatment more than 10 years ago as an outdated “cartoon” procedure.

Harry Katz, a contributing editor to PCT, may be contacted at Berkshire E-3076, Deerfield Beach FL 33442, 954/427-9716.