Reader Feedback, May 1998

Complying with these procedures has put more revenue in my pocket, but I’m disturbed that this trend is coming from outside our industry. If we’re not careful, the tail will be wagging the dog?

What’s wrong with our industry? Am I alone in my concerns? I’d like to hear from some other members. Since I service many food plants that are inspected, I think it is prudent that I not sign my name!

K.C.
San Leandro, Calif.

FOR CHRONIC PEST PROBLEMS, ASSESSMENT COMES FIRST

I’ve always enjoyed Jeff Tucker’s enthusiastic presentations, and am therefore a bit reluctant to be “teacher” as well as “student,” however, the pleasure of learning and of teaching should always be mutual, so here goes!

While Jeff’s suggestions about treating a restaurant (“Baits Don’t Always Work,” March PCT) are good, there is an important step missing. In any situation in which there is a chronic, unresolved pest problem, the first step must be assessment. This may involve an intensive inspection, placement of monitor glue traps and questioning of the restaurant manager/owner and/or staff. There may be a number of unresolved “foci” of infestation or structural or sanitation conditions which result in this “chronic” problem. An assessment of this order will determine the specific kind of treatment needed within the context of the conditions and circumstances which have caused the failure of control. This is the classic IPM decision rule establishment of a treatment protocol.

Yes, Jeff talks about almost all of this, but when he speaks of Integrated Pest Management as “an integration of all available tools and techniques,” the “Management” of IPM means making decisions on the basis of the specific facts in a situation. Sometimes we presume that this is a given, but often it has not been well understood. A recent definition of IPM by Dr. Marcos Kogan with the Integrated Plant Protection Center at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore., (Annual Review of Entomology, 1998) emphasizes that “IPM is a decision support system for the selection and use of pest control tactics, singly or harmoniously coordinated into a management strategy, based on cost/benefit analyses that take into account the interests and impacts on producers, society and the environment.” This definition is certainly applicable to urban pest management. I just wanted to add this to Jeff’s fine advice.

Control in the case described might still be achieved with baits alone, however, if the other treatments were needed, these might be limited to very specific locations. Follow-up monitoring and inspection would provide a measure of the success of control. I know that Jeff would do it just like that, but sometimes we must say it all out to get to the max. And as another Canadian once said, “the medium is the message.”

Sam Bryks
Toronto, Canada

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