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According to one estimate, U.S. consumers spend as much as $1.5 billion annually on termite treatment and as many as 1.5 million homes require treatment each year. The standard method of treatment is the creation of a chemical barrier around the threatened structure. Company has developed a system for eliminating termite colonies that does not require the usual widespread application of chemical deterrents. Pest-control professional monitors a station for termite activity before and after the colony is eliminated. The system is one technology among five that were honored with a green chemistry award at a ceremony on June 26 at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. Company received the award in the designing safer chemicals category. The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards were established in 1995 by President Bill Clinton "to recognize and promote fundamental green chemistry technologies that promote pollution prevention and that have broad application in industry," according to an Environmental Protection Agency publication. The awards have been presented each year since 1996. Twenty organizations, corporations, and universities--including the American Chemical Society--cosponsor the awards. Company s termite-elimination system was developed in collaboration with INVENTOR... "He developed some innovative application methods for delivering a termite bait, but the key piece he didn not have was the active ingredient," says product development manager in urban pest management R&D at Company. "We had hexaflumuron, and we have a very close working relationship with INVENTOR. The two came together back in about 1989." With Company s termite system, monitoring stations are set up around a structure. When termite activity is detected by a station, termite bait containing the compound hexaflumuron is loaded into the station. Hexaflumuron inhibits the synthesis of chitin, a component of the exoskeleton of insects. When the insects try to molt, they can not grow a new exoskeleton and they die. Hexaflumuron was the first compound to be registered with EPA as a reduced-risk pesticide. Such compounds, according to EPA, reduce pesticide risks to humans and nontarget organisms, reduce the potential for environmental contamination, or broaden the adoption of integrated pest management. Hexaflumuron is considered reduced risk because it is used only when termite activity has been detected, and even then it is used only inside the monitoring stations. According to Company, the only potential concern with hexaflumuron is that it is toxic to daphnia, an aquatic invertebrate. However, he says, there is little likelihood that the pesticide would reach an aquatic environment. |
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