A potentially
powerful new weapon to fight termites is now being offered to area
homeowners.
Over the past month, a chemical toxin, Termidor, has been applied
by area pest control companies. Based on field studies, the chemical
could be the best termite defense since the federal government
banned the use of Chlordane in 1987.
"It looks quite promising," said Philip Koehler, an entomology
professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Koehler
conducted several independent tests of Termidor.
If Termidor proves effective as it has in tests, no state will
welcome it more than Florida.
"There are two kinds of houses, those that have termites, and
those that are going to get them," Koehler said in an earlier
interview. "People in Florida are living in a sea of termites."
Koehler says there is a fundamental difference between Termidor
and other chemicals used to fight termites: "Termidor does not repel
termites, it kills them," he said. "Many of the other products have
just repelled termites."
Tests have shown that the chemical is effective up to seven
years, but the manufacturer of the product, Aventis Environmental
Service of Montvale, N.J., offers a five-year guarantee the product
will keep the termites from returning.
The limited number of pest control operators who have been chosen
to offer the product are hopeful.
"It gives us another tool that is more effective than other
chemicals that are out there," said Stuart Herman, president and
owner of Brandon Pest Control in Jacksonville.
Since the product was introduced about a month ago, the company
has treated about 10 to 15 houses with the chemical.
For now, Termidor will cost homeowners slightly more than other
termite-combating methods that are on the market.
Termite treatment can cost anywhere from $600-$4,000 for an
initial treatment, based on the size and the construction type of a
house.
The use of Termidor could add an extra $100-$150 to the existing
cost of a homeowner's pest control bill.
Herman says based on what he has learned from test results,
Termidor's impact on termites is the most impressive since
chlordane, a chemical that was banned in 1987.
Experts say Termidor has the same catastrophic impact as
chlordane had on the termites without the environmental drawbacks.
Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency banned the
production of Dursban, a pesticide that is used for a variety of
agricultural purposes that includes killing termites. EPA officials'
decision to investigate other pesticides does not seem likely to
affect Termidor, says Koehler.
Another pest control operator is reluctant to forecast that
Termidor will offer the final blow to termites even though all the
testing has been successful. "We heard about it in testing and we
have been waiting for the product," said Steve Miller, an
environmental biologist who works for Orlando-based Massey Services
Inc., which has two offices in the Jacksonville area.
He said he will be able to make a better determination about the
effectiveness of the product in about a year, when the chemical is
present during a termite swarming season, which was missed this
year.
"We can't make a definite statement that this is the silver
bullet. We don't know that. It may be, but we don't know. But it
looks pretty good."
Compared to previous chemicals that are used, Termidor is being
billed as a chemical that can be used without a baiting system,
which is an effective way to combat the atttaction of termites to a
house.
Baiting systems are installed chambers placed in strategic places
around a house to attract termites.
They consist of wood cellulose housed in chambers that are laced
with a chemical. The chemical is designed to kill or repel the
termites away from a house or structure.
Experts say baiting systems take longer to kill the termites and
often some chemicals change the behavior of the termites to the
point where they know they have ingested a poison and do not return
to the colony to infect the remainder of the colony.
In field tests, termites don't know they have ever made contact
with Termidor until it's too late.
"Every time they come in contact with each other, by passing each
other and essentially rubbing shoulders, they are exposed to the
chemical and it kills them in 72 hours," Miller said.
"That's good because they keep functioning for a while until they
make contact with a whole bunch of other termites," he said.
And as they build mud tunnels, which consists of sand particles,
saliva, and fecal matter, they essentially are building
chemically-laced death traps that they will inevitably crawl through
and become contaminated.
"It is a very good functioning product where you have a colonial
insect. They do the work; all we have to do is get the chemical near
them."
Koehler of the University of Florida says while baiting systems
are used, Termidor is designed to be a stand-alone chemical.
Presently, there are 11 local companies (see box) that can offer
Termidor. Other companies will be able to use Termidor on Dec. 1,
when the product will be available on a national level. That
decision was a choice of the manufacturer.
The companies presently offering Termidor were selected based on
their reputation, but there was no set criteria to choose the
companies, according to Karl Kisner, product manager of Termidor for
Aventis.
