California’s Top Pesticide Blunders

In Butte County, Calif., a man used a salt shaker to apply insecticidal dust on his dog for flea control. Later, he thought the salt shaker contained garlic salt and sprinkled the insecticidal dust on a bowl of chili.

The man realized his mistake because the chili tasted strange and the beans were a gray color. He experienced some stomach discomfort and went to a hospital for treatment.

This incident is one of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s (DPR) “Top Pesticide Blunders,” which reminds the public to avoid illness and injury by following label instructions and using household cleaning and gardening products that pose the least risk to their health and the environment.

What follows are two Butte County incidents and blunders that were drawn from 2007 illnesses and injuries reported to DPR. State privacy law protects the individuals’ identities.
• In Sacramento County, a teenage girl saw a mouse in her home and used gopher bait to control the problem because she had seen her parents use it effectively against gophers in the yard. She read the label, but did not understand it. She poured a handful of pellets into a corner of two bedrooms and waited in another room. Within two hours, she experienced a sharp pain behind her eyes, and tightness in her chest when she breathed in. She was taken to an emergency room for evaluation.
• In Los Angeles County, an elderly woman spilled insecticidal powder on herself as she tried to open the container to use for roach control in her house. She apparently held the container over her head. She experienced “burning” and was taken to her doctor.

Thanks for reading,

Jeff The ANT-SER Man

Well I appreciate you listening.

Have A Great Day,

Jeff Ahrens, A.C.E.

House mice normally live outdoors in fields, occasionally migrating into structures. In houses, they live behind walls and in cabinets and furniture. House mice are brown to gray in color with the tail as long as the body. Adults weigh about 1/2 ounce. Their droppings are 1/8 inch long and rod-shaped. The movement of rats and mice is usually related to food, water, or harborage. Knowing where they are likely to go is important to controlling them.

Rats use any method to get to food, water or harborage. Their excellent sense of balance enables them to run on pipes, narrow ledges, and utility wires. Rats, especially roof rats, will climb anything their claws will hold on to, including wires, pipes, and rough walls. Because rats are excellent swimmers, they often live in sewers and occasionally enter homes through toilets.

Recognizing Rat and Mouse Signs

Since rats and mice are active at night and are rarely seen during the day, it is necessary to recognize signs of their activity.

Droppings and Urine – Most people first recognize rodent problems by finding droppings or urine stains in and around buildings. The urine glows under ultraviolet lights and glows blue-white when fresh.

Sanitation - Good housekeeping or sanitation is a basic factor in rodent control. Eliminating food, water, and harborage for rats and mice can reduce rodent populations rapidly. To implement sanitation practices:

• Clean up garbage and rubbish.
• Properly store garbage (Metal garbage cans should have tight fitting lids).
• Properly store food (store raw or prepared foods and refuse indoors in covered, rat proof containers or in rat proof rooms).
• Store pet food and bird seed in rat proof containers.
• Remove harborages (remove piles of rubbish, trash, junk, boxes, and protected enclosures).
• Dry up sources of water.

Watch the video below and you won’t believe what David says at the very end.  Poor guy, you know he’ll be in a heap of trouble when he gets home.

But, as a professional David knows exactly how to eliminate dead rodent odors, so we’ll keep sending this favorite EarthCare natural Odor Remover to his new condo until he’s let back into his home. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzvITC3kEko

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzvITC3kEko 

Over the past 17 years, EarthCare Products have solved thousands of odor challenges from dead rodents to skunks to nasty urine odors. 

Pest Control Operators having tried many other solutions in the past without success are elated after trying EarthCare with the results they’ve achieved. 

We look forward to answering questions about how Earthcare can eliminate the worst odor problems you have, and generate additional revenue to you and your company and increase your profits. Imagine the possibilities.

Call me today, I am awaiting your call.

Bill Vaughan

Earth Care Products

www.cleartheair.com

Ph: 760 941-5302

Email: earthcare@msn.com

Our product is available at most Pest Control Distributors

PS: Thought you might be interested to learn what others are saying; read below.

From Thomas Smith, tacsmith@acusd.edu, May 10, 1999

Re: Skunk Spray

Sirs:  Yesterday I ordered a substantial quantity of your products in the hopes it will help me solve a terrible problem we have had with skunks.  About 6 months ago at least 2 skunks got into our attic.  One sprayed when it was caught in a rat trap and another sprayed for some other reason.  The whole house stank.  The smell got into our upstairs ductwork.  I have tried everything to get rid of the smell, with very limited success.  Enzyme products such as Simple Solution have done only a little good.  We had the ducts cleaned, which helped not at all.

A couple days later:

I received your products and immediately put one bag in the return air duct, one in my boys’ room’s closet, and one in the master BR closet.  The granules I spread around in the attic using all 9 lbs.  Within 2 hours, probably less in fact, the smell which has hounded us for 6 months was gone!  I cannot tell you how grateful I am.  As you may have inferred, the smell was just driving me nuts.

I feel like we have our house back.  After all I have been through, and all the money I have spent trying to solve this problem, I can truly say, you have an amazing product that does what it claims to do.  Please feel free to use my name and testimonial.

Very gratefully yours,

Thomas A. Smith

Jamul, California

From Laurie Wheeler, 9/7/05, LWHEELER@INTRUSION.COM

Dear Earth Care employees,

First I would like to commend you for your outstanding service; my item arrived speedily. I had ordered the Odor Removal Bag because our cats had dragged in some critters while we were gone for a few days and with the ac turned up to 80 degrees one of the dead animals was already decomposing and had leaked stinky body liquids. You can only imagine the smell! I hung up the bag in the offending room and no more stink! Thank you so much for your wonderful product. I hope to never have a need for another one but if I do I will certainly know who to order from!

Regards,

Laurie Wheeler

Odor Removing Bag

MayraP1@aol.com

Our pest control person recently blocked some places in our house where rats were coming in and out of our garage.  Apparently one or more got trapped in the walls and have died there.  The smell has been horrendous.  Our daughter in law had a similar problem and her pest control person gave her one of your bags.  She says it worked perfectly.  I need to get some ASAP and wanted to know if there is a place in Los Angeles where I can go and purchase them since ordering them would take a few days to receive.

Please let me know.          Thank you.      Mayra Prado

The survey also found that the majority (70 percent) of homeowners are concerned about the safety of pest control products and want to handle insect invasions in a manner that poses no threats to themselves, their family or pets. The good news is that consumers don’t have to choose between pests and pesticides they go to www.ant-ser.com for do it yourself products. Today’s pest control options provide homeowners with effective pest management in and around their homes with low impact on their families, pets and the environment.  www.ant-ser.com has products such as Talstar, Advion, Demon and rodent baits.

Please follow this link to see the results from a Dupont survey.

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Dupont-1006246.html