December 12th, 2017
Traditional methods of household pest management not only have limited success in actually eliminating pests, but in many cases, efforts at control can cause additional harm to residents, especially children.A new program to control household pests—adapted from agriculture—attempts to control pests more effectively while using less pesticides.A collaborative interagency effort is helping to make Integrated Pest Management (IPM) a viable option for the affordable housing community.IPM is a new approach to pest control that offers a means to reduce the risk from—and in some cases, the amount of—chemical pesticides needed. IPM reduces risk by monitoring pest populations, conducting environmental controls, and placing small amounts of low-toxicity, low-volatility pesticides on surfaces inaccessible to children. By encouraging tenants, building management and staff, and even pest control contractors to work together and proactively eliminate conditions that allow infestations to thrive, dramatic pest reduction can be achieved without using large amounts of pesticides.Cockroach infestation poses an especially compelling challenge. Evidence demonstrates that cockroach allergen is a potent, pervasive and persistent asthma trigger for low-income, inner-city populations. The common response to cockroach infestation is monthly pesticide spraying. But this method compounds the risk children face from cockroaches with a new risk: children are particularly vulnerable to the toxic effects of exposure to household pesticides.