Battling Resistance and A Review of the Pesticide Webinar

EcoRaider recently sponsored a comprehensive video that compiled the work of industry expert Dennis Judy in a Webinar entitled, Pesticide Resistance. The aim was to aid pest professionals and teaches them new treatment techniques when servicing customers, in addition to informing independent consumers on the best practices in resistance management.

Resistance is the issue of synthetic pesticides becoming less effective over time in killing or controlling various pests. As species of pests evolve, they become more resistant to existing chemicals and harder to control.

Judy, a longtime industry expert, discussed resistance overall, how it came to occur, best practices for resistance management, and the products that are experiencing issues with bed bug resistance. Mr. Judy has over 30 years in the pest control industry and began his career with Orkin. He is a member of the Georgia Pest Control Association’s Hall of Fame. He now serves as the technical adviser for EcoRaider.

Ever wonder why you see one, two, or twenty bugs still crawling across your bedroom floor after you shelled out a hefty sum of that rainy-day fund to hire a professional exterminator to come and eradicate an awful bug infestation that’s disrupted your home life and caused many sleepless nights? Now, to your dismay, the bugs have returned. Well, Dennis Judy’s webinar explores this phenomenon.

Mr. Judy attributes four main factors why pests become resistant to insecticides. Professionals and homeowners can benefit gravely from applying this knowledge and choose better methods of treatments.

How do insects become resistant to insecticides?

The first is Behavior- insects can sense and stay clear of insecticide dangers.

The second is Metabolic- over time an insect can develop the ability to break down and clear its body of a toxin.

Next he looks at the Target Site- The insecticide can no longer connect at its target site at a molecular level in an insect.

And finally Penetration- The insect’s shell more slowly absorbs the insecticide. This will eventually lead to passing on adaptable genes to offspring and future generations of the insects will no longer be negatively affected by the poison.

The first way to combat resistance is to apply pesticides only when needed. Do not rely on the same trusted chemicals continuously because this method will fail.

The applicator of a treatment should abide by the practice of rotation and explicitly follow the label instructions. Even if the labels are different, that doesn’t necessarily mean they use different chemicals- so attention to detail is important.

Rotate between different classes of pesticides during the year and from year to year. If the resistance is managed effectively, the pesticides will remain useful to operators.

As a consumer, it is not necessary to unpack every morsel of information. You are busy with your lives, jobs, and families. It might be interesting for some to know why extermination methods are not as full-proof as one hopes but it’s usually not in the customer’s interest to know the minutia of method of pest control treatment.

But, when it comes to matters of the wallet it is wise to make an informed decision and choose a pest management company that encompasses the strategies laid out in Judy’s lecture.

Studies show that there are more and more products that fail in the combating resistance – common pesticides are showing more resistance. Ways to approach this issue is to rotate pesticide classes. Look up the active ingredients. Incorporate IPM methods. Incorporate products like EcoRaider that do not fall into the resistance and add program.

EcoRaider is successful because it does not fall into the resistance program.

It is a botanical based insecticide that attacks receptors that do not exist in vertebrates. It does not contain any synthetic compounds that bedbugs have demonstrated resistance to.

Therefore, EcoRaider can be used as a standalone treatment or as part of a rotation program to control resistant bedbug strains while avoiding further resistance programs. And since EcoRaider is not a typical insecticide, the four resistant measures can ultimately be avoided.

EcoRaider is a useful treatment for both the pest management companies and is easily applied by private consumers. EcoRaider works as an ideal solution for the resistance problems because it often integrated into pest control rotation and used as a stand-alone treatment.

For more on details, we invite you to watch Pesticide Resistance