What Does a Termite Exterminator Do?

Agents that can repel or kill termites and protect plastic products from termite bites are called anti-termite agents or termite killers. Anti-termite agents can be divided into two categories: inorganic and organic. Inorganic termite-killing agents are mainly used to kill ants. Some organic termite-killing agents can kill ants by touching and some show repellent effects. The termiticide for plastics is most preferably an organic agent. They include chlorine compounds, organic phosphorus and urethanes. Of these, chlorine-containing compounds are preferred, such as 4-chloro-2-phenylphenol. ^[1]

Termites are one of the five major pests in the world. There are about 3,000 species of termites recorded worldwide, of which 185 are termed pests. Termite food

Termite control has received attention from various countries. Chemical control is still the most important and common method. According to the characteristics and purpose of use, termite control agents can basically be divided into two categories: preventive agents and anticides. Prophylactics are characterized by long-acting and strong repellent effects; anticides require slow-acting, no obvious repellent effects, and destroy the entire population through the spread of termites. On the basis of absorbing the advantages of traditional medicines, many new termite control agents have been developed and popularized.

Since the use of termite drugs, in addition to field extermination, mostly involves indoor, residential, building and garden places where humans live and are active, the direct harm of poisonous chemical pesticides to human health is worrying, even if some are toxic The potential impact of low chemical pesticides on human nerves and endocrine should not be taken lightly. Therefore, it is particularly important to find new safe and environmentally friendly termite agents, such as the development and use of plant-based preparations with natural termite control ingredients to replace chemical pesticides.

Termites have a high hazard rate, are very destructive, involve a wide area, and cause huge losses. The development of new agents to control termites has always been one of the goals of scientific researchers. With the enhancement of people's awareness of environmental protection and the continuous improvement of the quality of living and production environment, the future development trend of termite control agents may show the following characteristics:

(1) The proportion of inorganic termite control agents will be very low, most varieties will be eliminated, and inorganic pesticides generally have long periods of highly toxic residual effects, and are dangerous to human and animal environments. In particular, arsenic preparations, such as arsenite, are extremely toxic to mammals. Sodium arsenite is very soluble in water and pollutes groundwater sources. These species will soon be eliminated.

(2) Organochlorine agents will be eliminated soon. Organochlorines are very stable in nature, difficult to degrade in the environment, and have a long residual period. Degradants of some species may also cause cancer (such as mirex), which poses a great threat to the environment and human health. Its elimination is inevitable. Many developing countries have also banned their use in recent years. The United States banned the use of mirex and chlordane in 1975 and 1986, respectively. Indonesia has banned chlordane since 1993, and China has banned chlordane since February 1, 1999.

(3) The development of organophosphorus high-efficiency termites is very difficult, and there is not much room for development. Organophosphorus pesticides are more toxic to humans and animals, and can cause respiratory paralysis and death after exposure to concentrations. In the United States, chlordane became the first product to replace chlordane after it was banned.

(4) Pyrethroids will be the main varieties of termite control agents for a long time to come. Due to their relatively low toxicity and good environmental compatibility, such agents have become one of the most diverse types of termite control agents in the world. However, the pyrethroids currently used are all preventive agents, and almost none of them have the characteristics of anticides, and their residual effects have not yet met the expected needs. If effective pyrethroid anticides can be developed, the scope of application will be even greater.

(5) The development potential of biological termite control agents is huge, but there is still a long way to go before practical application. At present, the large-scale use of termite biological control agents is still in the laboratory stage, and no product can be really applied on a large scale in the field. In particular, there are many unresolved problems in terms of formulation and residual life, but the "pollution-free" characteristics of this agent determine its broad prospects, especially the extraction of active ingredients from insecticidal plants for termite control will be the development of new An important area of environmentally friendly termite control agents. ^[3]