May 2013 – Roberts Rants

The federal registration for Mythic pesticide, with the new active ingredient chlorfenapyr, was finally granted this spring by the PMRA. Here’s the label for those of you who want to read it, but make certain to save it and re-read when you can finally buy it in a year or two.

may 15 Mythic

BASF has a great product with chlorfenapyr, branded as Phantom in the US with a broad indoor/outdoor use for general pests and termites. Very good all around product from talking to colleagues and PMP’s in the States.

So what did we end up with in Canada?

Let’s see….

Outdoor use only

Minimum dosage rates

Termites, spiders, ants and the occasional invader

Not really too bad, but not what was hoped for. It certainly would have been great to see some alternative chemistry in the places where we have most of our insect pressure…indoors.

Now a bit of the bad news…

BASF is a huge company, and scheduling their products for production takes time and resources. Since this registration was received later and only for the outdoor market, the timing is all wrong for launching this year as it wouldn’t be available in time to take advantage of the full season.

Now the other bad news…

With only a limited application area, season and pests, is the market large enough to even warrant producing? Or do they wait a few more years to get the indoor registration, if it ever comes?

For those few of you in the termite business this is really bad news.

For those of us looking for alternative chemistry it’s more bad news.

The disparity of registrations, chemistry and uses continues to grow between the Canadian PMP market and the US.

There something I’m not getting…might be fodder for a rant????

This is in regards to my previous posts on having DeltaGard registered for the use of controlling all tick species, with the label allowing treatment of ticks that are known vector agents of Lyme disease.

This new product allows you as a Pest Control professional to expand your operation by offering a preventative treatment in and around the yard for ticks. Many ticks are considered a nuisance pest, much like the bed bug, and chemical control an option at this point. Vegetative management should always play a role.

But when it comes to controlling the tick specie that is the vector for Lyme disease, isn’t it better to take preventative measures by eliminating or reducing the population in areas known to have this insect? And where known cases have been prevalent?

I borrowed the following off a few known and trusted websites:

The first map shows areas of reported human cases in Eastern Canada only.

The second is areas where the threat to pets (that do contract Lyme disease) is located and the severity.

Is this building or capitalizing on a problem that doesn’t exist, or relying on “scare tactics” solely for the sake of increasing business?

In this case I don’t think so.

First off the problem does exist, and secondly prevention is much cheaper than cure.

As a home owner and dog owner, I would feel 100 times more comfortable if I knew that I had contracted out the service of a PMP to reduce my possible exposure to Lyme disease.

This is no different than the municipalities using IGR’s and BT’s to help reduce mosquitoes and prevent West Nile.

So I would think a good PMP should add this to their regular service. It does provide a new revenue stream, but it does serve your customer.

But use your professional ethics, utilizing IPM, monitoring etc. and charge a fair and reasonable price.

Month: May 2013

Chlorfenapyr….Mythic….a tale of good news, bad news, more bad news.

Scare Tactics or Preventative “Medicine”? Lyme Disease in Canada