What Pest Control Operators Are Scared To Tell You...

Over the years I've noticed that there seems to be much intrigue and myth surrounding the professional pest management industry in the mind of the layperson. I have heard everything from the belief that we actively try NOT to solve problems, thereby ensuring job security, to the mistaken belief that there exists a stash of “the good stuff” saved for ourselves and a select few favorite customers.

While neither of these myths are true, there are a few points we are certainly reticent to discuss in mixed company.

"There's A LOT we don't know about pests."

There is a perception that in modern times we know pretty much everything. Whatever we may lack in knowledge for ourselves can be readily accessed via a quick search on our obsequious smart phones. Failing the traditional google or YouTube searches, there's always an AI Chat-bot that seems to contain the entirety of human intelligence.

While this strategy serves us well for most day to day information, it is only effective if the information is already known and published. Most are surprised to learn that we suffer a shocking lack of quality, research based information about even our most common pests. On a recent episode of “The Pest Geeks” podcast, Niamh Quinn Ph.D, who works for the University of California said, “We know more about Polar Bears than we do rats”.

In this dark space created by the absence of knowledge, nearly anything is possible. This is the playground for our imaginations to construct abilities and attributes of pest organisms that rise to super-natural proportions. Rats as big as cats. Bed Bugs that can jump on you from across a room. Mice that eat bait and then go outside in search of water. All of these are known to be false, but without further research, most people are surprised to hear that “we just don't know for sure” is the appropriate answer for many questions about pest behaviors and biology.

The effect of this information gap is that we in the industry are forced to rely heavily on institutional know-how instead of good science. In many cases this serves us well like when more seasoned technician's share their expertise with apprentices, passing on battle tested techniques. As the pest management industry has modernized, and the regulatory expectations have mounted, “Hand-me-down” know-how has become increasingly risky. Techniques derived in this manner provide, at best, a precarious backstop to build a science based and defensible pest management program upon.

While there are many reasons for this dearth of information, one of the biggest is that funding is hard to come by. This is especially true when the subjects you wish to study are not of immediate economic importance or capture the imagination of the public. It is easy to convince someone to donate to studies of those adorable Polar Bear cubs while Sarah McLachlan sings a ballad, it is another thing entirely to generate funds to study how a disgusting maggot can play a role in Listeria outbreaks.

"We have a dangerously small number of control options and that number is getting smaller."

The current state of pest management relies on a small number of effective technologies to control pests. The availability of these materials has allowed for affordable access to professional pest management services for much of the population. Short of that, effective over-the-counter options have historically been available for those who are so inclined or economically forced to choose that route.

The problem we face today is that the rate at which pest control tools are being removed from the technician's toolbox, far exceeds the rate at which new methods, or replacement materials, are being added. These are critical tools required to solve problems and protect public health. We simply are not generating new options as fast as we are eliminating old ones. This can only continue for a limited time before we are left with no effective options.

Modern pest management has made issues like Malaria, Bubonic plague, Dengue fever things that occur only in a far off land that is so remote they don't even have WiFi! As such, it is being determined, at an alarming rate, that the benefits provided by the use of various pesticides are not worth ANY level of risk. Many are fortunate enough that they are insulated from the dramatic impacts of unchecked pest problems but it is the pest management professional, working on the front lines of the fight to preserve public health in every American city, that will see first hand the most vulnerable among us being asked to bear the costs of an ethical stand taken too far, too fast.

Let me state clearly, I am in fervent opposition to indiscriminate and inappropriate pesticide use in every case, and I stand in favor of any effective “alternative” method, no matter its derivation. Control strategies and materials change over time and generally in a positive direction. What will not change is the need to protect our food supplies, our families and our communities. We are on a dangerous track to quickly cripple an essential public health industry without understanding the consequences of what we are doing.