by Natural and pest control have not gone well together in the same sentence. That is because traditional pest control is anything but natural. What is and isn’t natural pest control?
Natural pest control describes pest control using products and processes that are natural. As little as ten years ago, it was almost unheard of that any pesticide on the market was natural. Nope, pesticides are typically multi-syllable chemical concoctions dreamt up in scientific labs. These products do not exist in Nature but are man-made synthetic chemicals designed to attack the nervous systems of bugs. There is nothing natural whatsoever in a synthetic chemical pesticide.
The prime example of a bad synthetic pesticide is DDT. Oddly enough, DDT won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1948 because it was so insanely effective in wiping out bugs. Of course, Man hadn’t thought about the long-term repercussions of such a capable poison. Yes, crop pests were well controlled for several years but DDT wreaked havoc on the environment! Species were pushed to extinction, the planet was being polluted, and all the wonders of DDT became the nightmares of Pandora’s Box unleashed into the world to cause cascading damage.
Thankfully, DDT was banned in the United States! Problem solved, right? Uh, no. Not even close. For starters, DDT is still widely used in developing countries. But that isn’t the worst part.
When DDT was eliminated in the arsenal of pest control products, the chemical companies had to find alternatives. So different synthetic poisons were created. Perhaps you’ve heard of some of them – malathion has been quite popular in the Gardening market for years. How about Diazinon? And the very popular synthetic pyrethroids that are everywhere.
These are NOT natural! They do not exist in Nature! They, and a gazillion other products, are compounds with complex multi-syllable names that are designed specifically to alter, attack, mitigate or compromise the nervous systems of bugs. If you are like most people and hate bugs, that seems a legitimate outcome. But it isn’t that easy…
Remember how DDT affected a variety of species beyond what was being controlled by the application? (Such as the Bald Eagle being close to extinction when DDT was sprayed on crops to control caterpillars on corn.) These non-natural pesticides are not just affecting pests – they enter the food chain, the water supply, and eventually human bodies to cause massive increases in neurological diseases affecting humans. Autism, Alzheimer’s, ADHD plus many more – all with skyrocketing diagnoses.
However, natural pest control does not harm others! It is beginning to take hold and the natural pest control market is expected to grow exponentially in the coming decade. ‘Bout time!
Natural pest control can control pests using natural products and processes. Why do anything else?
